Connie Kay


Conrad Henry Kirnon known professionally as Connie Kay, was an American jazz and R&B drummer, who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Self-taught on drums, he began performing in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s. His drumming is recorded in The Hunt, the recording of a famous Los Angeles jam session featuring the dueling tenors of Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray on July 6, 1947. He recorded with Lester Young's quintet from 1949 to 1955 and with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis.
Kay did R&B sessions for Atlantic Records in the early to mid-1950s, and he was featured on hit records such as Shake, Rattle and Roll by Big Joe Turner and Ruth Brown's He Treats Your Daughter Mean.
Kay joined the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1955, replacing original drummer Kenny Clarke. He remained through the group's dissolution in 1974 and occasional reunions into the 1990s. In addition to his MJQ compatriots, he had an enduring partnership with cool jazz altoist Paul Desmond through the first half of the 1960s. He played drums on several of Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison's albums: Astral Weeks, one song on Saint Dominic's Preview, and four songs on Tupelo Honey.
Kay was known for incorporating percussion instruments alongside his drum kit, such as timpani, small cymbals, triangle, bell tree, and darbukas, the latter referred to as "exotic-looking" drums in a 2006 article.
In 1989, Kay received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.
Kay had a stroke in 1992, but recovered enough to resume performing. He died of cardiac arrest in Manhattan in 1994 at the age of 67. He was survived by his wife, Addie, and two sons.
He also played with Benny Goodman' Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall 40th. Anniversary Concert on January 17th.,1978.

Discography

With the [Modern Jazz Quartet]

With Cannonball Adderley
With Chet Baker
With Ruth Brown
With Miles Davis
With Paul Desmond
  • First Place Again
  • Desmond Blue
  • Two of a Mind with Gerry Mulligan
  • Take Ten
  • Bossa Antigua
  • Glad To Be Unhappy
  • Easy Living
  • Pure Desmond
With Bill Evans & Bob Brookmeyer
  • The Ivory Hunters
With Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray
  • The Hunt
With Coleman Hawkins
  • Disorder at the Border
With Jimmy Heath
  • Swamp Seed
With Milt Jackson
  • Milt Jackson Quartet
  • Plenty, Plenty Soul
  • Bean Bags with Coleman Hawkins
  • Bags' Opus
  • The Ballad Artistry of Milt Jackson
  • Bags & Trane
  • Vibrations
  • Big Bags
  • Invitation
  • Statements
  • For Someone I Love
  • Jazz 'n' Samba
  • In a New Setting
  • I/We Had a Ball - 1 track
With John Lewis
  • The Modern Jazz Society Presents a Concert of Contemporary Music
  • Afternoon in Paris with Sacha Distel
  • The John Lewis Piano
  • The Golden Striker
  • The Wonderful World of Jazz
  • Essence
With Jay McShann
With James Moody
With Joe Newman
  • The Happy Cats
With Sonny Rollins
  • Sonny Rollins at Music Inn
With Michel Sardaby
  • Night Cap
With Lucky Thompson
  • Lucky Strikes
With Bobby Timmons
With Randy Weston'