Kenny Drew
Background information
Born	Kenneth Sidney Drew (1928-08-28)August 28, 1928 New York, U.S.
Died	August 4, 1993(1993-08-04) (aged 64) Copenhagen, Denmark
Genres	Jazz,hard bop,post-bop,mainstream jazz
Instrument	Piano
Labels	Blue Note,Xanadu,SteepleChase,Riverside,Verve,Soul Note,Storyville

Kenneth Sidney "Kenny"Drew (August 28, 1928^[1] – August 4, 1993)^[2] was an American-Danishjazz pianist.

Drew was born on August 28, 1928, inNew York City, United States,^[1] and he received piano lessons from the age of five.^[3] He attended theHigh School of Music & Art inManhattan. His first recording, in 1950, was with trumpeterHoward McGhee, and over the next two years Drew worked in bands led byBuddy DeFranco,Coleman Hawkins,Lester Young, andCharlie Parker, among others.^[3]

After a brief period with his own trio in California, Drew returned to New York, playing withDinah Washington,Johnny Griffin,Buddy Rich, and several others over the following few years.^[3] He led many recording sessions throughout the 1950s, and appears onJohn Coltrane's 1958 albumBlue Train.^[1]

Drew was one of the American jazz musicians who settled in Europe around this period: he moved toParis, France, in 1961 and toCopenhagen, Denmark, three years later.^[3] While he sacrificed much of the interest of the American jazz audience, he gained a wide following across Europe. Drew was a well-known figure on the Copenhagen jazz scene, recording many sessions with the Danish bassistNiels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.^[1] "Living in Copenhagen, and travelling out from there," Drew remarked, "I have probably worked in more different contexts than if I had stayed in New York where I might have got musically locked in with a set-group of musicians. This way, I have been able to keep my musical antennas in shape, while at the same time I have had more time to study and also get deeper into my own endeavors."^[4]

Drew andDexter Gordon appeared on screen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic filmPornografi – en musical (1971), for which they composed and performed the score.^[5]

Drew died in August 1993 in Copenhagen, Denmark^[2] (he had stomach cancer, but it was unclear if this was the cause of death) and he was interred in theAssistens Cemetery inNørrebro, Copenhagen. A street is named after him in southern Copenhagen, "Kenny Drews Vej" (Eng., Kenny Drew’s Road).^[6]

His son,Kenny Drew Jr., was also a jazz pianist.^[1]

Drew's touch was described inThe Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz as "precise", and his playing as being a combination of bebop-influenced melodic improvisation and block chords, including "refreshingly subtle harmonizations".^[3]

Compilation

• Solo-Duo (Storyville, 1996) – rec. 1966–83

• AllMusic
• Discography
• Kenny Drew atFind a Grave

• 1928 births
• 1993 deaths
• 20th-century American pianists
• Almost Big Band members
• American emigrants to Denmark
• American expatriate musicians in Denmark
• American jazz pianists
• American male jazz pianists
• Blue Note Records artists
• Danish jazz pianists
• Hard bop pianists
• Jazz musicians from New York City
• Mainstream jazz pianists
• Post-bop pianists
• Riverside Records artists
• SteepleChase Records artists
• The High School of Music & Art alumni
• Timeless Records artists
• Xanadu Records artists
• 20th-century American male pianists

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards