KENNY WHEELER (14th January 1930 - 18TH September 2014)
A SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE LIFE OF KENNY
WHEELER
ST.JAMES’S CHURCH, SUSSEX GARDENS, PADDINGTON 31st OCTOBER 2014
Kenny Wheeler was unique. He was without peer in three musical departments: trumpet/flugel horn, improviser, composer. He was a quiet, modest, self-effacing man but his music had an inner power that could transport the listener into another space – a most heavenly, mystical, spiritual place.
St.James’s Church was the perfect setting for this memorial to one of the greatest musicians of our time. Churches can be cold, stony places at this time of year but London’s warmest Halloween in living memory proved to be the perfect counterpoint to the musical feast that was about to unfold. Kenny is a master of counterpoint. He is also an amazing harmonist and his melodic lines always have an inner logic ( I write in the present as the music will always be there in the here and now, long after we have all departed ). But these are technical points. The point of Kenny’s music is its ability to touch people. It is deep, intense and spiritual.
The service had been meticulously prepared by Nick Smart, director of jazz at The Royal Academy of Music. It had been very well publicised, Sebastian Scotney of London Jazz News playing a big part in disseminating information about the event. This ensured that both musicians and the general public would turn out in big numbers. In fact the church was full to the rafters.
ST.JAMES’S CHURCH, SUSSEX GARDENS, PADDINGTON 31st OCTOBER 2014
Kenny Wheeler was unique. He was without peer in three musical departments: trumpet/flugel horn, improviser, composer. He was a quiet, modest, self-effacing man but his music had an inner power that could transport the listener into another space – a most heavenly, mystical, spiritual place.
St.James’s Church was the perfect setting for this memorial to one of the greatest musicians of our time. Churches can be cold, stony places at this time of year but London’s warmest Halloween in living memory proved to be the perfect counterpoint to the musical feast that was about to unfold. Kenny is a master of counterpoint. He is also an amazing harmonist and his melodic lines always have an inner logic ( I write in the present as the music will always be there in the here and now, long after we have all departed ). But these are technical points. The point of Kenny’s music is its ability to touch people. It is deep, intense and spiritual.
The service had been meticulously prepared by Nick Smart, director of jazz at The Royal Academy of Music. It had been very well publicised, Sebastian Scotney of London Jazz News playing a big part in disseminating information about the event. This ensured that both musicians and the general public would turn out in big numbers. In fact the church was full to the rafters.
The service began with the first two movements from
Wheeler’s Trumpet Quartet, the brass
sounds reverberating majestically around the ancient holy walls. The rest of
the programme featured excerpts from Wheeler’s big band works interspersed with
compositions for smaller ensembles. This included Vital Spark, performed by an international quartet: our own very
special Norma Winstone, Italian pianist Glauco Venier, German saxophonist Klaus
Gesing and Canadian bassist Jim Vivian.
Each musical item was juxtaposed by tributes to Kenny by four musicians closely associated with his work and all masters of jazz in their own right: Stan Sulzmann, Evan Parker, Dave Horler and John Taylor. Taylor was particularly emotional in his address. He had collaborated with the trumpeter for over forty years and was clearly overwhelmed by the occasion. Fighting back the tears, he said it all with these most fitting words: “He inspired us all. He was the greatest”
Every musician who participated was a star in his or her own right. However, the biggest star was Kenny. We left the church with the sounds of his horn ringing in our ears, Solo One plumbing the depths before soaring into the stratosphere. It was truly awesome and touched the audience to the core. It was Ken who had the last word just after the vicar’s final address from the 15th Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians by Paul the Apostle: “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible, and we shall be changed”
I, for one, feel changed forever by what happened on the last day of October 2014 and I am sure that I am not the only one in the audience that feels this way.
GEOFF EALES NOVEMBER 9TH 2014
PHOTOGRAPH OF PETE CHURCHILL & BIG BAND BY YAZZ AHMED
Each musical item was juxtaposed by tributes to Kenny by four musicians closely associated with his work and all masters of jazz in their own right: Stan Sulzmann, Evan Parker, Dave Horler and John Taylor. Taylor was particularly emotional in his address. He had collaborated with the trumpeter for over forty years and was clearly overwhelmed by the occasion. Fighting back the tears, he said it all with these most fitting words: “He inspired us all. He was the greatest”
Every musician who participated was a star in his or her own right. However, the biggest star was Kenny. We left the church with the sounds of his horn ringing in our ears, Solo One plumbing the depths before soaring into the stratosphere. It was truly awesome and touched the audience to the core. It was Ken who had the last word just after the vicar’s final address from the 15th Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians by Paul the Apostle: “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible, and we shall be changed”
I, for one, feel changed forever by what happened on the last day of October 2014 and I am sure that I am not the only one in the audience that feels this way.
GEOFF EALES NOVEMBER 9TH 2014
PHOTOGRAPH OF PETE CHURCHILL & BIG BAND BY YAZZ AHMED
