Kenny Wheeler was one of the most important trumpet players and composers in the history of Jazz. Born in Canada on January 14th, 1930 and naturalized citizen of Britain, Kenny absorbed all of the previous styles of trumpet to forge his own language and lead the way for future generations. As a composer he has few equals in the music. His classic albums for the ECM label include Gnu High, with Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette, and Double Double You, featuring Michael Brecker and his frequent collaborator John Taylor on piano, as well as the magnificent double CD Music for Large and Small Ensembles. The latter album featured a who’s-who of British jazz musicians with Norma Winstone’s soprano vocals floating like a swift-flying bird over the magnificent arrangements. He also formed one third of Azimuth, with Taylor and Winstone, an unusual and poetic trio. Kenny’s music could be spare melodically, but always had a strong and original harmonic underpinning which yields new surprises at each hearing. He was able to improvise in a «free» idiom but his own albums show him as a composer at once daring in a structural way and attentive to the smallest details of composition and arrangement. Some of his other key musical associations include Anthony Braxton, Marc Copeland, John Abercrombie, Peter Erskine, and Evan Parker.
I recorded the CD «California Daydream» with Kenny, Hein Van de Geyn, and André Ceccarelli live in Paris in 1994 at a short-lived but beautiful club called Alligators. We went live to DAT (2-track digital) over two nights and Kenny just nailed every melody and every solo. There was a lot of tension making a live recording with a group that had never performed together before and some strange innuendos from the producer and one of the other musicians about my introductions not having anything to do with the pieces, etc. etc. Kenny must have sensed that I was upset, because he called me on the morning of the second day to say, «I just wanted to let you know that I love your compositions and your playing, so keep on doing what you’re doing». His support was much appreciated and helped me «keep it together» for the second night of recording. The record came out nicely, a mix of original tunes penned by Hein, Kenny (including one of his infamous puns, «The Imminent Immigrant»), and myself. Unfortunately, the group never played together again. I spoke to Kenny several times on the phone afterwards and he expressed interest in playing together but it was not to be. The jazz world lost a trumpet prince and a splendid human being when Kenny Wheeler passed away at age 84 on September 18th, 2014.