Connie Kay

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Connie Kay, born Conrad Henry Kirnon, was born in 1927 and died in New York in 1994. He was an American drummer in jazz and rhythm and blues, and a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Kay taught himself to drum and played in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s. His playing can be heard on The Hunt, the recording of a famous jam session in 1947 in which the tenor players Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray played against each other. From 1949 to 1955 he played in Lester Young's quintet, and he worked with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.

Music and breakthrough

In the early 1950s he did sessions for Atlantic Records. You can hear him on hits such as Shake, Rattle and Roll by Big Joe Turner and (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean by Ruth Brown. In 1955 he took Kenny Clarke's place in the Modern Jazz Quartet. He stayed until the group broke up in 1974, and also played at reunions. With the alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, a representative of Cool Jazz, he had a lasting partnership in the first half of the 1960s.

Influence

He also left traces in pop music. He played drums on several of Van Morrison's albums: Astral Weeks, a track on Saint Dominic's Preview and four tracks on Tupelo Honey. Kay was known for the percussion he used alongside his drum kit, such as timpani, small cymbals, triangle, bell tree and darbukas. As a leader he never recorded an album of his own.

Listening

In School of Rock

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