Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Roger Kellaway: The Many Open Minds Of Roger Kellaway

Roger Kellaway: The Many Open Minds Of Roger Kellaway

By Dan Bilawsky
November 18, 2019
View read count

Roger Kellaway: The Many Open Minds Of Roger Kellaway

There's not a single category that can contain the wit and wonder that is

Roger Kellaway

piano
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Roger Kellaway. Over the past 60 years he's put his musical stamp on film, television, pop, rock, new age, ballet, and modern classical forms, garnering awards and acclaim wherever his pen and piano work happen to fall. And let's not forget jazz. While Kellaway has played with a laundry list of notables from the aforementioned realms, his jazz r��sum�� is no less impressive.

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins,

Clark Terry

trumpet
1920 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Clark Terry,

Oliver Nelson

saxophone
1932 - 1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Oliver Nelson,

Wes Montgomery

guitar
1923 - 1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Wes Montgomery,

Gerry Mulligan

saxophone, baritone
1927 - 1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Gerry Mulligan,

Zoot Sims

saxophone, tenor
1925 - 1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Zoot Sims, Eddie Daniels and numerous others have benefited from his support on records of note. Yet Kellaway's greatest contributions to the music may be what he's released under his own name, not what he's done for others. His signature blend of virtuosic flair and good taste can be heard across his entire leader discography, from the early records to his Concord outings of the '90s to his latter-day dates—like this one—for IPO.

Recorded live in 2010 at The Jazz Bakery in Santa Monica, California, The Many Open Minds Of Roger Kellaway finds the pianist playing trio with guitarist

Bruce Forman

guitar
b.1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Bruce Forman and bassist

Dan Lutz

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Dan Lutz. The material is all run-of-the-mill—standards that everybody, including Kellaway, has worked with ad infinitum— but everything still dazzles. Taking the kid gloves off right at the top, the trio kicks things off with a "52nd Street Theme" that's as hot as they come. Kellaway and Forman fire the 16th note lines in the head back and forth, giving off an early hint of a conversational rapport that comes to the fore quite often, and the trio sprints together in total synchronicity. Then the tempos cool off a bit, but the magic remains. "Have You Met Miss Jones?," opening with Kellaway out front, finds a comfortable, moderate pace that allows for some back-and-forth banter. "Doxy" raises the rafters with bluesy aplomb and down-home goodness, eventually upping the ante through a dalliance with double-time. And "Take Five" digs in hard, with Lutz's wide beat grounding the grooving and soloing.

Sticking with the established programming formula straight through to the end, Kellaway and company deliver three more fan favorites to close out the date. First there's a mellow "Take The 'A' Train" that starts on the unusually slow track and eventually hits a double-time stride. Then there's an agreeable "Night And Day" that proves to be a mostly mannered offering. And finally we have a "Caravan" that cooks straight to the finish line. Through it all, Kellaway demonstrates his pianistic prowess with near-unmatched agility, flexibility and strength. At a time when the jazz community has been forced to say goodbye to such elders as

Harold Mabern

piano
1936 - 2019

" data-original-title="" title="">Harold Mabern,

Larry Willis

piano
1942 - 2019

" data-original-title="" title="">Larry Willis and

Richard Wyands

piano
b.1928

" data-original-title="" title="">Richard Wyands, it's nice to know that some piano giants like

Roger Kellaway

piano
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Roger Kellaway still walk the Earth.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

52nd Street Theme; Have You Met Miss Jones; Doxy; Take Five; Take The 'A' Train; Night And Day; Caravan.

Personnel

Roger Kellaway

piano

Roger Kellaway: piano; Bruce Forman: guitar; Dan Lutz: bass.

Album information

Title: The Many Open Minds Of Roger Kellaway | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: IPO Recordings

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Cathy Segal-Garcia: A Weaver Of Drea...
< Previous

Th��?tre Garonne, 2008
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.