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Jazz guitarist
Calvin Keys is a legend among soul-jazz fans for his appearances as a session and touring musician and a catalog of releases under his own name. His 1971 Black Jazz debut,
Shawn-Neeq, and his sophomore outing for the label, 1974's
Proceed with Caution, are both considered jazz-funk classics.
Keys' playing style is lean and muscular. His unique phrasing balances sophisticated jazz harmonics with funky R&B and soul grooves. Since the 1960s,
Keys has worked as a session and touring player with
Ahmad Jamal and others. His own recordings, including 1985's Full Court Press, 2001's Detours Into Unconscious Rhythms, and 2013's
Electric Keys have all been celebrated in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2018 he issued the single "Nigerian Marketplace."
Keys was born in 1943 in Omaha, Nebraska. His first musical influence was his father Otis, a well-known drummer on the city's music scene. He passed the music bug on to
Calvin, who picked up the guitar early.
Keys eventually landed his first notable gig as a member of
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson's band when he was 17. He first hit the road with sax player Little Walkin' Willie that same year before moving to Kansas City. There his first gigs were with
Preston Love (of
the Count Basie Orchestra) and later the Frank Edwards Organ Trio. After woodshedding with Edwards, he landed a spot in organist
Jimmy Smith's road trio. After leaving
Smith,
Keys worked the rest of the '60s with
Jimmy McGriff,
Jack McDuff, and
Richard "Groove" Holmes.
Keys moved to Los Angeles in 1970. In 1971, he signed to
Gene Russell's fledgling Black Jazz label and cut his debut album, the now-legendary
Shawn-Neeq. He gigged on his own before auditioning for
the Ray Charles Orchestra.
Keys' unique phrasing and his ability to balance sophisticated jazz harmonics with tough R&B and soul grooves were showcased nightly in the
Charles band. In 1973, Black Jazz released
Keys' second offering,
Proceed with Caution. He did session work for the label, and played on
Russell's
Talk to My Lady and
Doug Carn's seminal
Adam's Apple. He toured in support of
Proceed with Caution before relocating to San Francisco in 1975 and focusing on live and session work. He played on Billy Brooks' jazz-funk classic
Windows of the Mind before joining
Ahmad Jamal's group in late 1975.
Keys spent close to a decade with the pianist, touring the globe and recording six albums, beginning 1976's Recorded Live at Oil Can Harry's.
When not touring with
Jamal,
Keys worked in live settings and recording sessions with luminaries
John Handy,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eddie Marshall, Leon Williams,
Bob Braye,
Ed Kelly,
Eddie Duran,
Bruce Forman, Junius Simmons, and Eddie Moore. In 1976, he also played on
Doug and
Jean Carn's Ovation album Higher Ground. In 1977,
Keys released Criss Cross for Ovation. Produced by
Russell, his sidemen on the date included pianist
Kirk Lightsey, bassist
Henry Franklin, drummer
Leon Ndugu Chancler, and trumpeter
Oscar Brashear. He also cut One and Night Song with
Jamal to close out the decade.
The 1980s proved similarly fruitful for
Keys. He was a first-call studio and live sideman. He amassed credits and touring bona fides with
Tony Bennett,
Pharoah Sanders, and
Sonny Stitt.
Keys began recording another solo album in 1984. In 1985, Olive Branch Records released tracks from these sessions entitled Full Court Press, and followed it a year later with the remainder of the material on the album Maria's First.
Keys continued playing sessions and performing with touring acts in the Bay Area as well as the occasional Los Angeles gig. In 1991 he was part of the studio band that recorded film composer
James Newton Howard's original score for the film Dying Young. Working with his own trio,
Keys released Standard Keys on Lifeforce Records in 1992, and his session and live work continued at a relentless pace. He settled down in the Bay area and played his own trio gigs for several years. He did make a tour of Europe that resulted in
Jamal's
Live in Paris 1996. An Evening with Calvin Keys, taken from a radio broadcast, was released that same year.
He was sidelined in 1997 by heart surgery, undergoing a quadruple bypass. Undaunted, he released the widely acclaimed Detours Into Unconscious Rhythms on Wide Hive Records. The large cast included organist
Chester Thompson (
Ray Charles,
Santana) and upright bassist
Kenneth Nash (from
Jamal's band). After the album's release,
Keys toured regionally in the U.S. and in Europe before returning to the Bay Area, where he performed with organists
Big John Patton,
Dr. Lonnie Smith, and
Taj Mahal. In 2005
Keys recorded
Calvinesque for Silverado. The album hit number 30 on the European jazz charts.
His second Wide Hive release, Vertical Clearance, was issued in 2006. It reunited
Keys with
Carn, and included
Phil Ranelin,
Sonny Fortune,
Roger Glenn, and Babatunde in its lineup. In 2007
Keys released
Hand-Made Portrait on Silverado, and received a tribute from fellow Midwesterner -- and fan --
Pat Metheny, who composed and included the tune "Calvin's Keys" on his album
Day Trip.
Keys appeared on
Ranelin's
Living a New Day for Wide Hive and on organist
Gloria Coleman's
Sweet Missy for Doodlin in 2009. In 2012 Tompkins Square Records re-released
Shaw-Neeq exclusively on vinyl.
Keys supported it by touring with a band, performing the album in its entirety. In 2018,
Keys released the single "Nigerian Marketplace" with his own quartet, and the following year played on Marty Krystall's Liquid Krystal Displayed, with bassist
Buell Neidlinger and drummer
Peter Erskine. In 2021,
Shawn-Neeq appeared again in Real Gone Music's ambitious Black Jazz catalog reissue program. ~ Thom Jurek