Wynton Kelly: Kelly Blue

The classic Wynton Kelly Trio comprised Kelly on piano, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Besides being Kelly's most stable trio, this rhythm section provided the underpinning for several important recordings and tours for Miles Davis in the late '50s and early '60s. These include Kind of Blue (Columbia Records, 1959) and Davis' 1960 European Tours, Someday My Prince Will Come (Columbia Records, 1961), In Person, Vol. 1—Friday Night at the Blackhawk (Columbia Records, 1961), In Person, Vol. 2—Saturday Night at the Blackhawk (Columbia Records, 1961), and Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (Columbia Records, 1961).

During his tenure with Miles Davis, Kelly and his trio recorded Kelly Blue in two sessions, February 19 and March 10, 1959. The February 19 date added trumpeter Nat Adderley, tenor saxophonist Benny Golson and flautist Bobby Jaspar, yielding the title piece and "Keep It Moving"—both Kelly compositions. The trio recorded the standards "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise," "(On) Green Dolphin Street," "Willow Weep for Me," and the original "Old Clothes" at the March 10 session. For perspective, between these two dates (on March 2), Kelly, Chambers, and Cobb recorded a partial and complete take of "Freddie Freeloader," later included on Kind of Blue.

Kelly's piano style and his rapport with Chambers and Cobb are on keen display here. Kelly, like Gene Harris after him, had an intuitive feel for the blues, infusing and informing his performances with that style. In the title composition, Kelly creates a circuitous open figure played in unison by Adderley, Golson, and Jaspar that includes period cool confused with an oddly foreign flavor. Jaspar's presence softens the blues edge with a mild island lilt (Kelly's parents were Jamaican immigrants). Once properly introduced, Chambers launches into his patented 12-bar, four-on-the-floor time, giving space for Kelly to expound thoroughly. After a brief unison section, Jaspar plays the blues as if conjuring some Calypso spirit, this arrangement introducing each soloist thereafter: Adderley, playing tartly with clipped figures ascending. Golson follows with an angular hard bop tenor solo that atomizes into an explosion of notes, leading to the swinging coda.

Chambers acts as a pilot light, opening and igniting songs, like "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise," a ballad made blues by Kelly. Chambers introduces "Willow Weep for Me" with a four-note waltz figure before handing it over to Kelly to work his graceful magic on. Cobb is the urbane timekeeper, always there but never overly so. Chambers and Cobb together experiment with different time signatures, feeding Kelly's fertile imagination with directions not thought of outside of improvisation. The original "Keep it Moving" is a bouncing sextet tune that allows Kelly to move beyond the blues into more swinging environs. As fine as the sextet is, it is when Kelly solos that this trio gels. "Old Clothes" is another trio original that digs deep into the gospel-blues dichotomy in jazz. Kelly solos as if he had no peers, and for these seven-plus minutes, he does not.

Kelly's years with Miles Davis were productive ones, not just for Davis but for Kelly as a leader. This trio deserves closer reassessment for its contributions to bebop becoming hard bop on its way to post bop.