KENNY WHEELER - Windmill Tilter

The 1st in a series of Interview/Essays of Canadian Musicians That was some summer in London in 1966. The jazz scene, which I had left three years previously had changed so much. A new identity had occurred. The old heroes, who relied so much on the American system of jazz for inspiration, had been superseded by a new, original and vibrant music. In this period the information that was available in the international media, was acclaiming a flowering of a new jazz, an extension of Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, but for the most part this same media was focusing on music that was coming from the United States. Not such an unusual situation considering the circumstances of all new attitudes pertaining to jazz. In Europe however a parallel force was occurring, the likes of Gunter Hampel, Willem Breuker, Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink were redefining the concept of improvised music. In England a similar situation was developing, and like the Europeans they were beginning to process their new identity, that although inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane, was a decidedly non-American music. The trumpet player that seemed to be involved in a great number of these ensembles was Kenny Wheeler. Kenny Wheeler was born in Toronto in January 1930, and as a teenager moved to St. Catharines, a small town close to Toronto. “It wasn’t long before I met some of the young local guys. Sounds like there was a lot of them, but there were maybe half a dozen. They were probably complete outcasts in St. Catharines, but the thing that they knew about was bebop, and at that time I was listening more to people like Buck Clayton (I still love that music) and they turned me on to Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles… bebop.” By 1952 Kenny Wheeler was ready to move on, so he headed for Montreal. “It was wanderlust really I guess. I was supposed to go to Montreal, to McGill University to take a course which would make me a high school teacher. I just realised that I wouldn’t be able to make that. So I thought I can’t go back to St. Catharines with my tail between my legs, which I had done a few times. So I just (headed out), being very daring.” The winter of 1952 saw Kenny Wheeler arriving in England for the beginning of a long career in music. “I’ve lived there (London) longer than I’ve lived in Canada. At that time when I arrived, it was still the big band era in England, so that’s what everybody worked in. I was young, and you know you don’t care so much about things. I only had a certain amount of money, and I didn’t really know anybody. But I wasn’t worried. Now of course I would never dare try anything like that.” Eventually in 1959 he began to perform with the famous England orchestra of Johnny Dankworth, and with that orchestra he would later compose his first major recorded work, “Windmill Tilter”. A suite based on the book Don Quixote. “I went through quite a lot of the slightly more commercial big bands before that. The first one was Roy Fox, who was an American (more famous in the 1930s, who was residing in London), and Vic Lewis. “The first thing I did, of course, was head for the local jazz clubs. The one I looked for was the bebop club (Club 7), which was the style of music I was into by then. I thought I was pretty hot, so I stupidly went up and asked to sit in. They let me sit in, but they never took any notice of me whatsoever. So that sent me into a shell for a long time. When my money ran out I got myself a day job. At Christmas time they used to take on a lot of extra people in the post office. Eventually I found out about a street where all the musicians used to go on a Monday afternoon, which was like a market place for work, called Archer Street. So I started going down there. I couldn’t believe this place, there were hundreds of musicians standing around, and jobs would come up. I got to talk to people and know who they were. Finally somebody said — Roy Fox needs a fourth trumpet player, would you do it. I said sure, I’ll do it.” From those humble beginnings the career of Kenny Wheeler has taken a long and varied path, which included studies in counterpoint with Bill Russo, composition with Rodney Bennett and performance with almost every major English jazz artist, including bebop musicians of the calibre of Joe Harriott, Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott. But my real experience with him begins in 1966. The Little Theatre Club was situated in Central London, up four flights of narrow stairs, a small bar in the lobby, and a performance space that often had as many musicians performing in it as there was audience. This was where the legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble gave regular concerts, and introduced me to the amazing music that was developing in London. The band often included John Stevens, its organiser and drummer, saxophonists Trevor Watts and Evan Parker, guitarist Derek Bailey, trombonist Paul Rutherford, bassists Jeff Clyne and David Holland and of course Kenny Wheeler. In this period and indeed right up until now, he has been involved in a number of adventurous and original groups of artists. Did it feel, in the sixties, that John Stevens and the others you were involved with were creating anew music form? “I don ‘t think I was consciously aware of that at the time, for me it was something that was completely different. But it is different from American free music. It did have a different sound. I never heard any American player that sounded like Evan (Parker), certainly not then. I think he has influenced a lot of younger people.” Evan Parker was to be one of Kenny’s long time associates, and due to Evan Parker’s more radical concept towards improvised music, I was curious about the public reaction to the two of them in performance together. “I don’t think either of us ever thought about it, we just play together and usually enjoy it. Whatever the situation was. We even played on several lucky occasions, just duets together. It has worked out great. I suppose for those members of the audience who feel more comfortable with pigeon holes there would seem some unbalance. I must admit that most of the people that would come to hear us would be more interested in Evan than me, it wouldn’t be some of the more conventional people. Perhaps if they saw Evan’s name on the bill, they might stay away. You know what I mean.” Evan Parker has also been involved with Kenny in the Globe Unity Orchestra, an orchestra that for several years has had a very high profile in new music circles in Europe, and in the winter of 1983 toured America and Canada. In recent times not much has been said about this orchestra. Does it still exist? Do you still play in it? “Yes, when we do work, but it seems rarer and rarer, the chance to work. We used to work quite a lot, maybe five or six times a year over a period of a week or two at a time. Which is quite a lot. But not anymore. It’s strange, because the last few years the band was as good if not better than it had ever been, and you know for 12 - 13 people to walk on a stage, with no music, and no preconceived idea about what they are going to do, it was getting so that a lot of the time it was coming off, and some really great music was being played. There was also a period when Alex Schlippenbach did use quite a lot of written material. He loves Monk.” In the 60s another orchestra descended upon London to add to the power that already existed there. The orchestra, under the direction of pianist Chris McGregor, was called The Brotherhood of Breath, and originated from South Africa. England became a haven for them, away from the racist environment of Apartheid. Kenny Wheeler was one of the English musicians that played with them. “I did a couple of gigs with the Brotherhood. They brought a lot of great energy with them to London, it was just a great period in London anyway, there were so many different kinds of music happening, but somehow it and the musicians were crossing over into different things. There wasn’t a barrier. There was the Brotherhood, there was the Little Theatre Club, there was John Stevens, there was John Surman, Mike Gibbs, somehow in a strange way it was all meshing together. At least from my point of view. I think it was also in that time a lot of people in the pop world were keeping an ear to what was going on in all this movement in the jazz world. If that is what you want to call it. Also the Brotherhood of Breath were a completely different musical culture which had arrived in London. It was quite different to what was already there, and it was gratefully accepted by everybody.” Another major aspect of Kenny Wheeler’s life has been his association with ECM, which began in 1975 with the recording entitled “Gnu High”. A more recent example of his music for this label would be “Around 6” (ECM 1156), and this brings to light another peculiarity about working in Europe in comparison to North America. All six players are from different countries. Evan Parker (England), J.F. Jenny Clark (France), Edward Vesala (Norway), Tom Van Der Geld (Holland) and Eje Thelin (Sweden). How could such an eclectic group of people be assembled. How would you meet such a group of players? “Europe is small compared to Canada, and you go through many different cultures in a short time of travelling, so you do meet a lot of players from all different countries and festivals.” That’s still very active in Europe, the festival circuit, so that you can move about quite readily? “Well, maybe I’m one of the lucky ones, but I seem to keep working.” Is this one of the advantages of the Common Market, that your passport is open in every country. That you can travel freely? “No — there never was, as far as musicians go, at least for English people going to Europe to work. You don’t need work permits like in Canada and America to move from country to country. So the Common Market didn’t really affect musicians. Maybe other kinds of people it did.” One of the most fruitful periods of Kenny’s life, at least musically, was in the middle seventies, when he became associated with Anthony Braxton. A period that brought about the quartet of Braxton, Wheeler, David Holland and Barry Altschul. From 1974, for another two years he worked continually with Anthony Braxton on numerous projects, which took him all over Europe, to the United States and on several occasions back to his native Canada. Those years were for me, as Kenny himself describes, also my most fruitful. My family lived for one whole summer in Woodstock, NY, when that marvelous quartet was developing. Attended the rehearsals and the recording sessions of the great Arista records, and helped to bring that quartet to Toronto. Kenny has returned often to Canada in the last ten years, not only to perform with Anthony Braxton but also with my band, Ron AlIen, an orchestra project with young Toronto players, to make records for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and also recently with his old friend from those wonderful days some twenty years ago in London, Dave Holland, who is now the musical director of the Banff Summer School. “I started teaching at Banff five years ago, Dave Holland asked me to come out there originally. For me it’s hard — I’m not a born teacher, but the students do seem to get a lot out of it… Quite a lot of the students come back again, some for two or even three years.” Kenny Wheeler is a gentle man, reserved and serious about his art. That he has succeeded is sometimes a surprise, because he is not part of the world of musical hype, not in any way a hustler. He is, who he is, based entirely on talent. I leave you with a feeling for him as he talks of his first meeting with Anthony Braxton, that clearly illustrates my point. “He (Braxton) came to London and brought some music, and I think he was quite impressed by the fact that I attempted to get through it, and made something of this black music, which was running all over the page. It was really hard music. I think he remembered my brave attempt so he kept my name in the back of his head.” Information sources include Toronto writer Mark Miller, the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada and the quotes are from an interview on CKLN radio.