Can Violinists Play Jazz? YES!!! Caravan featuring Joe Kennedy

Billy Taylor plays a tribute to Juan Tizol, featuring Joe Kennedy on Violin, Tizol's Caravan with Billy on piano, Victor Gaskin on bass and Keith Copeland on drums.

Joseph J. "Joe" Kennedy Jr., was one of America's most respected jazz violinists.

The cousin of alto saxophonist Benny Carter, Kennedy came up in Pittsburgh; among his childhood friends was pianist Ahmad Jamal. His grandfather, Saunders C. Bennett, Sr., taught young Joe to play the violin. His early musical influences included classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin and jazz pianist Art Tatum.

Kennedy served in the Army during World War II and performed in the Camp Lee Symphony Orchestra in Petersburg, Virginia. After his discharge he formed the Four Strings with Jamal, guitarist Ray Crawford, and bassist Edgar Willis. The quartet explored bebop textures within an unusual setting. With the help of pianist Mary Lou Williams, the group landed a contract with Disc Records and cut their first album, Trends, in 1949. The album was reviewed favorably in Down Beat, and the magazine specifically described Kennedy as "the cleanest violin we've ever heard". Kennedy continued to work with Jamal and Benny Carter off and on throughout his life. He also performed with the likes of Toots Thielemans, John Lewis, the Heath Brothers, Hank Jones, Billy Taylor, the Roanoke Symphony, Jon Faddis and the Great American Jazz Ensemble.

Kennedy studied at Carnegie Mellon University, received his B.A. at Virginia State College and his master's degree at Duquesne in Pittsburgh. He subsequently returned to Virginia and made the state his permanent home. In 1963 Kennedy became one of the first African-American members of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, an inspiring achievement. Education was always close to Kennedy's heart. For 32 years he taught music in Richmond's public schools and, from 1984 until he retired in 1995, he was the director of jazz studies at Virginia Tech. During his tenure there, Kennedy was one of the subjects of the BBC documentary "Fiddlers Three". Kennedy also developed coursework in African-American music history while at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Kennedy played a number of the world's top jazz festivals during his career, and his compositions have been performed by several orchestras. Albums issued under his name include Strings by Candlelight (Cap, 1998) and Falling in Love With Love (Black & Blue, 2002). In the mid-80s he was one of the subjects of the BBC documentary "Fiddlers Three". His honors include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Theresa Pollak Prizes for Excellence in the Arts (1999), the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation's Living Legacy Jazz Award (2001), and a commendation from the Virginia General Assembly (2002). He continued to perform and record up until a year before his death.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Caravan
• Juan Tizol
• Duke Ellington
• Billy Taylor
• Joe Kennedy
• Benny Carter
• Ahmad Jamal
• Art Tatum
• Down Beat

[unusualmusician]

Beautifully played. Bravo.

The mystique of Arabia plus bouncy, swingin' jazz. This melody never grows old. And it's never played the same way twice. Tizol was a genie-us.

I just posted a cheerful capoed-violin improvisation of this venerable melody...

[DKClassic]

RIP Billy Taylor

[ZauberGuitarre]

great! In many ways this version preserves the mysterious character of the original tune - especially with the winding chromatic double-neighbor-tones at the end of the A section. Many people just play a straight descending scale these days.

[646879]

good stuff.....listen to Setzers version and then Scotty Anderson.....and Oscar Peterson.....that will about cover what can be done with this tune....

[mojavej]

rollin'

[DrJColeman]

I love this song. I played it on Trupmet last year and piano. It really is super fast. And who better to pay homage to the DUKE than Dr.Billy Taylor!!!!!!

[ToucheTurtle]

Thank you.

[858jc]

Hey Touche Turtle, the bassist is Victor Gaskin and the drummer is Keith Copeland. I hope that helps you.

[lausdomin]

I don't know who they are but they're all totally NUTS! Wow....

[lausdomin]

I don't know who they are but they're all totally NUTS! Wow....