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Tom Kennedy: In A New York Minute
By the time I was two or three, I had a little ukulele and was picking out bass lines on Beatles songs.
Tom Kennedy
bass, electricb.1960
Michael Brecker
saxophone, tenor1949 - 2007
Steve Gadd
drumsb.1945
Lee Ritenour
guitarb.1952
David Sanborn
saxophone1945 - 2024
Freddie Hubbard
trumpet1938 - 2008
Dave Weckl
drumsb.1960
Joe Sample
piano1939 - 2014
Nat Adderley
trumpet1931 - 2000
Kennedy talked to All About Jazz about the past, present, and future of his career. He takes us on an enjoyable trip down memory lane, growing up in a suburb of St. Louis and a journey that includes playing with jazz elites such as
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Sonny Stitt
saxophone1924 - 1982
All About Jazz: Tom, you have been a sought-after sideman and session player for many years. I'd like to start with your own records as a leader. I believe you have five so far, the most recent being Points Of View (Self Released, 2017) and Just Play! (Capri Records, 2013). The latter seems to best describe the feel of its cast of great musicians, with whom you already have an established musical connection and were just going for it.
Tom Kennedy: Well, you just hit the nail on the head. Just before the session, I was thinking about all the logistics, making sure things were set up correctly, and getting all the guys there so that we could just play. The name just kind of happened and we stuck with it. I picked a lot of material that we had played before and were very familiar with. I knew when
Mike Stern
guitarb.1953
Renee Rosnes
pianob.1962
George Garzone
saxophone, tenorb.1950
AAJ: What goes into the process of song selections? Was it in consideration of the artists involved?
TK: I didn't want it to be a strain on anyone. Again, to just be able to relax and go for it. I picked a lot of songs that I was familiar with and that I just like. I picked a lot of things that we used to listen to back in St. Louis. Back then, [my brother] Ray and I were the youngest players and it was just a magical time. These are songs that I am close to.
AAJ: An opportunity to put your own spin on them.
TK: That's right. A new spin from not only myself but from the entire cast of great musicians. You have a sense of what it is going to be, but at the same time you have no idea what it is going to be. You can never anticipate what someone is going to do four or eight bars down the line, so there is anticipation of the unexpected. It is a really special feel.
AAJ: Would it be accurate to say that these are studio albums with that live vibe?
TK: Absolutely. We wanted to play everything live. We did it in an old studio called Nola in New York City, a well-known club with a lot of history.
Nat King Cole
piano and vocals1919 - 1965
Frank Sinatra
vocals1915 - 1998
AAJ: Recording where Nat King Cole recorded. How cool is that?
TK: Right, exactly.
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
We did Just Play! in one day. We might have had two takes on each thing, but I went with the first take on every song. I never used any of the second takes.
AAJ: How did When Light & Shadows Meet (Go East Music Entertainment, 2018), your record with Chinese pianist Luo Ning, come about?
TK: Dave Weckl called me about that project while we were on a West Coast tour. Ning contacted him about playing on his record and asked about a bassist. Dave and I have played together forever, so he always thinks of me and I always think of him.
AAJ: The depth of the record becomes more and more apparent with each listen, perhaps most notably in the bass lines. Did you find that its complexities made this an interesting project to work on?
TK: Definitely. Ning's music is very interesting. I remember being in the studio and there were some preconceived ideas about what he wanted, but it was great because he was open as well. He really wanted us to show our own personalities and do our own thing. It was a very pleasant project. I recall some hard days because some of the stuff was kind of challenging. It was definitely a lot of fun because I am up for challenges. I love challenges—especially in a live studio situation— when they are unsure of exactly how they want things to go. There is an arrangement but, as I said, it was open for interpretation. Our personalities were really shining on that project. He was great to work with and very open to whatever we wanted to do.
AAJ: Once again, the preeminent rhythm section with you and Dave Weckl onboard. I know it has been a very long time, but just how long have you and Weckl been playing together? How many records do you think the two of you have played on together?
TK: I think we have done thirty or forty projects over the years. Dave was so heavily into the
Chick Corea
piano1941 - 2021
Stan Kenton
piano1911 - 1979
AAJ: That's just a few years ago.
TK: It was funny because my brother...I don't know how much you know about my brother, or if you are familiar with him.
AAJ: Of course. Ray Kennedy was a very accomplished jazz pianist.
TK: Ray was incredible and played with
John Pizzarelli
guitarb.1960
AAJ: Finding a kindred musical spirit so early in life had to be special .
TK: Yes, that was the thing. It was uncommon, especially at our age. There were many great players at the time that were older. We were just kids in our mid-teens trying to get started and play as much as we could. Dave and I are only six months apart in age.
It happened naturally. When we played together it was the most natural thing of all. The chemistry was there, and it was just so easy to play. We were dumbfounded, really, even at that age, at how it came together. It was a defining moment. Finding a drummer was always hard enough anyway. It was difficult to find someone into jazz who could play at our level at the time.
AAJ: Maybe some rock drummers?
TK: That's it. People would ask if we listened to rock growing up, if we were Zeppelin heads, and no, we weren't. We were listening to
Oscar Peterson
piano1925 - 2007
Bill Evans
piano1929 - 1980
Buddy Rich
drums1917 - 1987
AAJ: You also did a couple of shows recently with
Dennis Chambers
drumsb.1959
Leni Stern
guitar, electricTK: Well it was great. It was a small club, An die Musik LIVE, in Baltimore that has really been promoting jazz. It's a small community place that is bringing in some major people. We had well educated jazz crowds there to hear music. It was a cool old room in a cool old building. It might have been a library at one time. They had chairs but no tables. Definitely a listening place. People were really into the best place to sit and really listen. There were quite a few musicians in the crowd as well.
AAJ: I know you have played with Chambers quite a bit. How did you enjoy playing with Leni Stern?
TK: She is wonderful. Her music is wonderful. To me, that's the thing. It was a different kind of scene because we were mostly playing Leni's music. I hadn't really played it before. I had heard it for years, but this was the first time we had ever played a gig together. When the music is beautiful, and the person is beautiful, then it's going to be a great experience. It can sometimes be one or the other. I have played with fabulous musicians who are, let's say, not nice people. And vice- versa. But Leni is the whole package. She is the real deal. She has a real musical sensitivity. We also had the surprise of Mike Stern coming down and sitting in. He was kind of in the background, as much as Mike can be in the background [laughs]. He was standing behind Leni playing rhythm guitar. Then we ended up playing some of his music as well.
Leni and Mike have this unbelievable love for each other. There is such support. After everything they have been through over the years, they just want to be together. They want to share things, and it is really beautiful. I kept looking over at them and thinking how sweet it was to see them both on stage together. They were both rocking out and it's just a wonderful feeling. Then DC [Dennis Chambers] is there playing drums and everyone is wailing and having a good time. I thought "These really are the times of your life."
AAJ: Hopefully the opportunity to play more shows together will present itself.
TK: We could easily do it. We had an absolute ball together. I have played with the best guitarists in the world, with the best drummers in the world, and with the best pianists in the world, and I never take that for granted. When I am up there in the middle of it, with all this wonderful stuff wafting around me, it is such a wonderful feeling. Then I look at the audience and see how into it they are and have that communication with them. If they're not there, we're not there. It doesn't happen without them. They create the energy. It's great to have that kind of positive energy, with all the other stuff going on in the world.
AAJ: It sure is something positive to plug into. I have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing you play with the incomparable Mike Stern many times. Last month I saw the quartet twice in a ten-day period, first at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix and then at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. I mention the time frame because it is notable how songs sound so different within it. Is the approach to keep it fresh by implementing some changes in advance, or is it all improvisation?
TK: It's totally in the moment. I try to go in with no preconception. We know the music backwards and forwards. We have played it a lot together. I make it my job to learn any new music as quickly as I can, so that I can get away from the sheet and just play. Then I can look at it from as many different angles as I can. When we get out on stage, it's just the now.
AAJ: That interplay, camaraderie, and true enjoyment of playing is very much a part of, and transcends, the listening experience.
TK: With that much focus—and we are all really locked in—we are also able to have fun with it. That's why the amazing grooves happen: the concentration lends itself to some great moments. You dig in and the audience is responsive, which makes you want to dig in even harder.
AAJ: Going back to where it all started, you mentioned your talented older brother, Ray. What was it like growing up in a musical family?
TK: I was so fortunate from the time I was a little kid. My father and mother owned a music store in a St. Louis suburb called Maplewood. They started the music store back in the '40s. They were planted in Maplewood for several years before the three of us kids came along. I am the youngest of three. My sister is five years older than me. From the time we were little we would be at the store listening to records and playing instruments. My father was so proud to find out that we all had perfect pitch, which was pretty extraordinary. So, by the time I was two or three years old, I had a little ukulele and was trying to pick out the bass lines on
The Beatles
band / ensemble / orchestraAAJ: That's really incredible. What led you to the upright bass?
TK: For us, it was just natural. We just gravitated to it. Music found us. We weren't really looking for it. It kind of pursued us. I played trumpet for about a year. My brother played trumpet. We ended up playing trumpet all through high school. Ray was in middle school at the time and they didn't have a double bassist in the orchestra. He was asked to play because he was so musical that they knew he would pick it up. The idea was for him to take it home for a couple of weeks, learn the parts, and play them with the orchestra. He brought an upright bass home to practice. That was the first time I ever saw it. It was laying on the floor in the music room and I went over and pulled a string. I immediately just fell in love with it. Within a few days Ray and I were starting to figure out how to play tunes together. He had just started playing the piano and was really into
Oscar Peterson
piano1925 - 2007
AAJ: That seems to have worked out pretty well. Was your father a musician?
TK: My dad was a trumpet player. He had kind of a small big band and traveled around the Midwest. He was a personality as well. He would do a little bit of singing and played a lot of
Louis Armstrong
trumpet and vocals1901 - 1971
AAJ: That's the image that just popped in to my head.
TK: He had that same kind of appeal and people liked him. He did that for years, and then at one point his mom mentioned that she thought it would be smart to open a music store. I think she was trying to get him to settle down and get into something like that. I don't think there was much security in what he was doing. So that's when the store got started. When we were old enough to stock shelves or tune a guitar, we started working there as well. The store kind of saved my life. I had a very late adolescence and was kind of a troublemaker. I was better off working at the store than being on my own, so the store saved me in a lot of ways.
AAJ: Somewhere in there, you started a band together.
TK: What happened was that, before we even met Dave, we were playing with some other kids. We found a little drummer that just basically played brushes on the snare drum. He was good and we ended up playing a lot. We were playing all the time at little parties and stuff. The funny story is that one day my dad gets a call from the local musicians' union. They said "We need to talk to you about the boys. We keep hearing their names and know that they are playing around a bit. We think that they need to join the union so that they will be protected." Mind you, I was twelve at this point. They set up a 2:00 PM meeting on a Saturday for us to bring our instruments and audition for the union. We started playing, and pretty soon we see people coming in with paper cups and paper plates with cake on them. They had punch and coffee. It turns out that they just wanted to hear us play.
AAJ: They just wanted a free band for their office party.
TK: That's exactly right. It was hilarious. They told my mom later that we were already in but, yes, they thought they would get a little free concert out of it.
AAJ: They got one great deal that day.
TK: They sure did. Looking back, I think they might owe me fifty bucks. [laughing throughout] So now we had the union on our side, and they would recommend us for gigs. Here we are, just kids, and we started playing with Dizzy Gillespie,
James Moody
woodwinds1925 - 2010
Herb Ellis
guitar1921 - 2010
Barney Kessel
guitar, electric1923 - 2004
AAJ: These cats must have fallen over when they walked in and saw a group of kids as their back up band.
TK: Yeah, pretty much. I remember Sonny Stitt looking at us and kicking into "Cherokee" at breakneck speed. It was kind of sink or swim. After the first tune he was smiling and asking if we knew "April In Paris" and some other tunes. We ended up playing with him for about ten days. This is back when gigs were more like two weeks. That is now a thing of the past.
AAJ: That had to be a great learning experience.
TK: Oh, it was wonderful. We just caught the tail end of that. What an education, to be able to play with all those guys that early in life. You learn a lot of the subtleties not just about the music, but about personalities and all that. We knew we had hit the big time when they would call us back. They would come to town again and call us. We knew we were doing something right.
AAJ: What can you tell us about your late brother? [Ray Kennedy passed away in 2015 due to complications with multiple sclerosis.]
TK: There was nobody in music that I respected more than my brother. He was the most incredible musician that I have ever met to this day. The thing about Ray, in a general sense, was that he was a fan of music. He was always learning and never had the sense that he was better than the situation that he was in. To give you an idea, Ray was playing "A Night in Tunisia" with Dizzy Gillespie, and he was ready to play his solo when Dizzy—as, of course, he generally did—went up for a high note. As soon as that happened, Ray just froze. He sat out about a chorus because he just was in awe of the moment. It struck him that he was actually onstage playing with the great Dizzy Gillespie. For me, that moment really encompasses Ray's love and appreciation of it all. He was like an encyclopedia of jazz. He was a humble guy who just happened to be an immensely talented musician.
AAJ: What bass players or other musicians did you listen to growing up? Who would you consider to be influences?
TK: I referenced Oscar Peterson earlier, so
Ray Brown
bass, acoustic1926 - 2002
Ron Carter
bassb.1937
Leroy Vinnegar
bass, acoustic1928 - 1999
Eddie Gomez
bassb.1944
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Dave Liebman
saxophoneb.1946
Steve Grossman
saxophone1951 - 2020
Stanley Clarke
bassb.1951
Brecker Brothers
band / ensemble / orchestraAAJ: You came along at just the right time.
TK: We really did. All that stuff was just starting to blossom and so were we. Then we got into
Herbie Hancock
pianob.1940
Paul Jackson
guitar1947 - 2021
AAJ: When did the electric bass enter the picture?
TK: About that time, when we started getting in to Herbie and Miles Davis's electric stuff. I remember one night, late at the music store, my dad and I were just getting ready to close up for the night. A guy walked in and asked if he could play an electric bass. He picked up an electric bass and started funking on it. He was slappin' it and funkin' with it. That was my first real interest in the instrument. I realized that you could do other things with it. It wasn't just a small upright. I got a good electric bass and started taking that seriously. It was a bit of an alter ego thing though. I was still mostly into the upright and playing straight-ahead jazz.
AAJ: We talked about how many records you have done with Weckl. Any idea how many you have been a part of overall?
TK: Probably a couple of hundred. Maybe more like three hundred. I've done a lot of projects Sometimes it is just on one tune, and sometimes it's the full record. People send me stuff all the time. I love doing that. In fact, when we first started talking about the record you brought up earlier, I had completely forgotten about it. It's funny but I will be talking with somebody and they will ask "Remember that recording you did with so and so?"
AAJ: And your response is, "I do now."
TK: Exactly. Then it's like, "Thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten all about that one." But that's cool.
AAJ: One of my favorite records that you play on is
Don Grolnick
piano1947 - 1996
Peter Erskine
drumsb.1954
TK: That one, interestingly, is one that totally stands out. That was a game changer for me. I had just moved to New York to pursue a music career and I called Peter Erskine to let him know I was in town. I should backtrack to tell you that I have known Peter ever since the Stan Kenton band camp days when I was kid. Peter was Kenton's drummer in those days. Most of the nice hotels in St. Louis back then had nice quality pianos in the lobby. When Peter would come to town, he would call my brother and me and we would go jam in the hotel lobby. We did that quite a bit. I called Peter when I got to New York and he got me into an audition right away.
Steps Ahead
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1979
Mike Mainieri
vibraphoneb.1938
Warren Bernhardt
pianob.1938
AAJ: What a great tune.
TK: Oh, it sure is. I had played that song many times but, wow, it was amazing playing it with these guys. Just incredible. All of a sudden it had that feel just like on the record. The next thing I know, everybody is smiling, having a good time, and getting more intense. Michael goes into his sixteenth-note solo and everyone is bopping their heads. We played two or three other tunes, and at the end it was like "What do we do now?" I shook hands with all the guys and took off.
AAJ: Great story. What's happened next?
TK: The next morning the phone rings and Peter says, "Welcome to Steps Ahead." I was off and running and it was only my fifth day in New York. Then I heard from Weckl. He was starting to work with
Bill Connors
guitarb.1949
Tania Maria
pianob.1948
AAJ: And here we are in 2019. What's in store for this year?
TK: I will be doing some more tours. Mike and I have dates in Europe in April and it looks like we will be going to China in May. I also want to do another record this year. I am working on a new recording. What it is going to be is yet unknown. I want this to be more of a group record. Maybe four or five people. Possibly a guest or two. But I want it to be more of a group rather than a large cast of guests. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed doing that, but I just want to do something a little different. I am hoping to do something around late summer or maybe even by mid-summer, with a couple of originals and some different things with arrangements. We shall see. Looking forward to it all.
Tags
SoCal Jazz
Jim Worsley
United States
New York
New York City
Tom Kennedy
Michael Brecker
Steve Gadd
Lee Ritenour
David Sanborn
Freddie Hubbard
Al DiMeola
Dave Weckl
Joe Sample
Nat Adderly
Dizzy Gillespie
Sonny Stitt
Rene Rosnes
George Garzone
Nat King Cole
frank sinatra
Charlie Parker
Luo Ning
Chick Corea
Stan Kenton
Ray Kennedy
John Pizzarelli
oscar peterson
Bill Evans
Buddy Rich
Dennis Chambers
Leni Stern
Mike Stern
Beatles
Louis Armstrong
James Moody
Herb Ellis
Barney Kessel
Ray Brown
Jerry Cherry
Ron Carter
Leroy Vinnegar
eddie gomez
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Dave Liebman
Steve Grossman
Stanley Clarke
The Brecker Brothers
Herbie Hancock
Paul Jackson
Don Grolnick
Peter Erskine
Steps Ahead
Mike Mainieri
Warren Bernhardt
Bill Connors
Tania Maria
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