Calvin Keys is a legendary sideman. Over the decades, the Oakland-based soul-jazz guitarist has performed alongside such stars as Ray Charles, Jimmy Smith, Taj Mahal, Jimmy McGriff and Ahmad Jamal. He's known as a "guitarist's guitarist," one who boasts several well-known ax men among his fan base -- most notably jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, who paid tribute to Keys with the original composition "Calvin's Keys"on the 2008 album "Day Trip."

Keys, however, clearly deserves wider recognition. The Omaha, Neb., native, who moved to the Bay Area in the mid-'70s, is much more than just a former sideman to the stars -- he's also an accomplished solo artist. He's released a number of worthy efforts as a band leader, including the fairly recent outings "Calvinesque" (2005) and "Hand Made Portrait" (2007), but much of that work has been tragically overlooked by the general public.

Keys' most famous work is his 1971 debut, "Shawn-Neeq," which many consider a stone-cold classic. Yet, all too few have been talking about "Shawn-Neeq" in recent years. Now is the time to reignite the conversation.

"Shawn-Neeq," originally issued by the Bay Area-based Black Jazz Records, has been recently rereleased by San Francisco's Tompkins Square label. Fans who have never heard the hard-to-find album -- which, as I understand, has mainly been available as a Japanese import over the past few years -- can now experience Keys' finest moment. They will, however, need a turntable to do it.

Tompkins Square is reissuing "Shawn-Neeq" solely on 180-gram vinyl -- which, in this particular case, is a vastly superior format to any MP3 file (groovy early-'70s jazz is meant to be spun from a turntable, not transmitted from a smart phone). The vinyl edition goes for $20 and is available through www.tompkinssquare.com (as well as at other retailers).

Don't have a turntable but still want to experience the "Shawn-Neeq" sounds? No sweat. Come on out to hear Keys and his trio perform "Shawn-Neeq" in its entirety on Feb. 6 at Oakland's 57th Gallery. The record-release party doubles as a 70th birthday celebration for Keys; it should be quite an amazing occasion.

Showtime is Feb. 6, 2012 at 7 p.m. The 57th Gallery is at 5701 Telegraph Ave.
Tickets are $20 (510-654-6974).

View Larger Map
View Larger Map

Autism benefit: Here's a chance to enjoy some fine tunes and feel good about yourself in the process -- truly, one of my favorite combinations! I'm talking about the eighth annual Voices of Latin Rock Autism Awareness Benefit, which goes down tonight at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco. The event is an important fundraiser for the Alex Speaks Foundation, an organization that aids local students struggling with autism.

This year's benefit features another top-to-bottom solid lineup, highlighted by a headlining set from the Bay Area's own Family Stone. Of course, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act won't be appearing with its legendary former leader -- Sly Stone. But judging by recent write-ups and word-of-mouth reviews of Sly's "performances," his absence may be a good thing.

The current Family Stone lineup includes founding members Jerry Martini (saxophone), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet, vocals) and Greg Errico (drums). It also features powerhouse vocalists Alex Davis and Trina Johnson, as well as such accomplished musicians as guitarist Nate Wingfield and bassist Blaise Sison.

The band's set list is likely to include such Sly and the Family Stone soul-funk staples as "I Want to Take You Higher," "Dance to the Music," "Everyday People," "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and, best of all, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)."

Filling out the bill are Blanca (the Latin-rock band led by singer-songwriter Blanca Sandoval), the Voices of Latin Rock All Stars (featuring Tony Lindsey, of Santana band fame) and new Bay Area band Miles of Will. I'm particularly intrigued by the latter -- Miles of Will features Miles Schon, son of Journey guitarist Neal Schon, and Will Champlin, son of Bill Champlin from Sons of Champlin and Chicago.

I first met jazz guitarist Calvin Keys in the summer of 1995 at Jazz Camp West, a music camp held annually south of San Francisco, CA. The camp was a joyful time in a beautiful redwood forest within a few miles of the sparkling Pacific Ocean, and I met many people there who remain friends to this day. “All the music we hear comes from the first seven letters of the alphabet,” I recall Keys saying there in the thick of a humid afternoon. “Now think about that.”

Calvin Keys performing with a guitar built and named for him by Heritage guitars.

I came to appreciate Keys’s charisma and enthusiasm for jazz. In time, I noticed his ability to establish a rapport with nearly everyone he meets, whether young students, fellow professional musicians, or an unsure singer attending his jam session for the first time. Nearly 17 years ago, the hip-hop style and rhythms had swept Oakland, CA, and the nation as the leading popular musical style of the day. At that Jazz Camp, I recall Keys joining in with the younger generation of musicians and jamming on their hip-hop grooves just as well as anyone could. Later in the week, he was performing the most difficult of jazz standards with pianist Mark Levin or vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. An impressive roster of musicians have called on Key’s guitar talents over the last 40 years: Ahmad Jamal, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Donald Byrd, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Ray Charles, Carmen McCrae, and Pharoah Sanders, to mention a few.

In class, Keys showed us an eight-measure introduction he had written to “Little Sunflower” by Freddie Hubbard. I think of this intro often, as it’s so fitting for the song and serves its role well, setting up the song and engaging the listener. It’s so strong melodically that it could be its own composition. I learned from Keys that this phrase helped shape the song, which has a very long form and only a few chord changes. He plays the phrase after his solo, cuing the next soloist and holding the song together. Keys’s version of “Little Sunflower” appears on his live 1997 recording Standard Keys with a guitar trio. Keys introduced to me the idea that standards could suggest other melodies and song forms that were open for me as a musician to interpret. I would incorporate this concept in arrangements of jazz standards I would create and perform on gigs in subsequent years and record on my 2000 CD The Gentle Rain.

David McGee (left) with Calvin Keys at a 57th Street Gallery jam session

Following Jazz Camp, I would see Keys on occasion at his gigs around the San Francisco Bay Area, at workshops where he was a featured instructor, and at jam sessions. I attend often the weekly jam session he now co-leads at 57th Street Gallery Monday evenings in Oakland, CA, to avail myself of a jazz guitar master. I go not just to play and socialize, but to study what Keys does on the bandstand. I remember Keys finishing the last soloist’s idea and taking the head out on “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” that put me on the edge of my chair. It was time to play the melody out, and Keys, in a split second, captured a saxophonist’s energy and played a lick that finished the sentence in a musical conversation. Keys followed with a lightning-fast scale run that landed right on the melody’s first note and beat. It was thrilling to hear! Of all the sets of jazz I’ve played over the years, it’s never occurred to me to take the head out quite that way.

At the time I met Keys, I was studying with guitarist Duncan James in San Francisco. James is well regarded for his niche of swing jazz guitar, having worked or recorded with George Barnes, Jimmy Witherspoon, Pat Yankee, Eartha Kitt, Bernadette Peters, and Madeline Eastman, among others. “Calvin has always been a real gentleman, as well as a great player,” James recalls, “and our paths have crossed through the years. I’ve always been impressed with the care Calvin places in the presentation of jazz music and in his original compositions. He’s one of the leading lights of jazz guitar.”

It appears Keys’s career has come full circle. On January 9, 2012, he performed his first recording Shawn-Neeq, released on the Black Jazz label, in its entirety at Yoshi's San Francisco. Tompkins Square record label reissued the 1971 album the following day on vinyl. Keys appeared at Yoshi’s with Michael Jones, bass; Glen Pearson, piano; Leon Joyce, drums; and Art Maxwell, bass clarinet and flute.

A new fan coming into the Keys fold, Tompkins Square owner Josh Rosenthal, now a San Francisco resident, discovered by chance a copy of Shawn-Neeq last year in New York City and quickly became enamored with his yard-sale find. His record label specializes in forgotten recordings and artists deserving of more recognition, mostly in the folk and blues genres. Coincidentally, within an hour of listening to Shawn-Neeq, Rosenthal received an offer to purchase the Black Jazz catalog. “You can say what you want about the supernatural,” he told a correspondent for the Oakland Tribune, “but I knew I had to do something.”

Keys recorded Shawn-Neeq live at Hollywood Spectrum Studios, Los Angeles, in one room with no over-dubs, featuring Owen Marshall, flute and other horns; Lawrence Evans, bass; Larry Nash, electric piano; and Bob Braye, drums. My first reaction listening to Shawn-Neeq was “thank goodness for analog sound!” It’s no surprise that vinyl records are making a comeback. Shawn-Neeq projects a warmth and analog sound’s live feeling of a long-ago era in a way that digital recordings do not. The recording features the classic Fender Rhodes keyboard sound of the 1970’s and evokes the aura of the era’s film and television soundtracks. There’s great interaction among the soloists throughout the recording. One can hear early on the two-and-three note patterns of Keys’s solos that build rhythmic intensity and energy, a technique he’s used abundantly throughout his career.

Calvin Keys's 1971 recording "Shawn-Neeq" released by Black Jazz record label. "Shawn-Neeq" will be reissued on vinyl by Thompkins Square label January 10, 2012

Owen Marshall's composition “B.E.” shows a rock-fusion influence and has a rubato introduction with each musician adding intriguing textures. On the tune, there’s interesting comping from Keys for the horn and keyboard solos with the soloists improvising on one chord. The title song Keys wrote with his newly born niece in mind to “capture the beauty of bringing a new baby home.” It’s a loving ballad in waltz time.

The Black Jazz record label was among the first of independent recording labels, founded by pianist Gene Russell. In addition to Keys’s debut, it released recordings by Rudolf Johnson, a tenor saxophonist with Ray Charles; Chester Thompson, a keyboardist with Carlos Santana; and Walter Bishop Jr., a pianist with Charlie Parker. A native of Omaha, NE, Keys arrived in Los Angeles in 1969 and quickly worked his way into the musical scene there, playing with Ray Charles’s band, an initiation and rite of passage for African American musicians coming to Los Angeles at the time, Keys says. “I worked all over L.A. I wanted to make a statement,” he recalls. “The music released by Black Jazz was very much connected to the Civil Rights movement. I wanted Shawn-Neeq to be spontaneous, improvised, and reflect the spirit of the times. Looking back after 40 years, I’ll have to say the recording has held up well. It still has appreciators. It’s heartening that the Black Jazz vinyl records are now collectors’ items.”

Yoshi's San Francisco jazz venue

In the early 1970’s, Keys traveled in Europe with Charles’s big band on a tour that featured the Count Basie Orchestra and the Oscar Peterson Trio. He toured for two years with Charles and worked frequently after that with the legendary singer and pianist. By following Shawn-Neeq with another recording for Black Jazz Proceed With Caution, Keys set in motion a long and varied career as a soloist.

Soon after performing with Charles, in the mid-1970’s Keys began a seven-year stint with pianist Ahmad Jamal, touring worldwide with Jamal’s quartet, and he recorded from 1976 to 1980 with Jamal Steppin’ Out with a Dream, One, Intervals, and Night Song, among others. A live recording A-Paris was released in 1996. Keys’s playing developed further working with Jamal, who considers Keys one of his mainstay musicians. With Jamal, Keys nurtured what he calls an “emotional drive,” crafting chord solos and melodies in a guitar style that’s been called pianistic and is well represented in the 14 recordings Keys has made as a leader, many of them in the guitar trio format and recorded after he settled in the San Francisco Bay Area.

During these years beginning in 1980 as Keys's ambitions as a leader ripened, a young, aspiring guitarist in San Francisco approached Keys. “He would come around to my gigs and ask, ‘Can you help me learn jazz guitar?’ I said, ‘Yes, I will.’ ” That guitarist was Bruce Forman, who would become another recognized master of

the guitar trio and an international jazz artist with many jazz recordings as a leader. Forman credits Keys with encouraging him as a young player. “Growing up in San Francisco and playing jazz guitar,” Forman says, “of course Calvin Keys was a big inspiration and influenced the way I hear. His warm, swinging style always enhanced every group he played with, and his solos were always dynamic and moving.
“He was very encouraging and supportive—as he is with all young musicians—his love and deep respect for the music shines through in everything he does,” adds Forman, who currently teaches jazz guitar at University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. “Calvin is a true jazzman, and his playing and music are woven deep in the fabric of the Bay Area jazz community.” While based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Keys has performed on recordings by vocalist Denise Perrier and pianist Bill Bell in addition to contributing tracks to a compilation In Celebration of Life that also features Tony Bennett and Miles Davis.

Guitarist Pat Metheny, a Keys fan and fellow Midwesterner, delivered the ultimate compliment composing a song “Calvin’s Keys” for the 2007 Day Trip recording. Keys joins other musicians James Taylor and Jaco Pastorius, among others, who’ve received the same honor from Metheny. I remember a “Tribute to Wes Montgomery” at The John Handy Jazz Festival held at San Francisco State University. Keys performed with guitarist Mimi Fox, also of the San Francisco Bay Area, who maintains an active national and international touring schedule and teaches at the Jazz School, Berkeley, CA, in addition to recording prolifically. They both delivered a winning tribute to Montgomery with the highlight being a version of Montgomery’s often-performed blues composition “Cariba.” “Calvin is a soulful player,” Fox says, “and always offers something special with his blues- and bebop-based playing. It’s that certain something, a je ne sais quoi he brings to the music.”

A few years ago, I attended the funeral of the revered San Francisco Bay Area pianist and educator Ed Kelly who often collaborated with Keys on performances and recordings. It was a somber and reverent occasion, if you can imagine nearly 400 people sitting quietly and the sound of funeral bulletins fluttering as the eulogy was read. I sat down in a pew and adjusted to the solemn mood as I entered the church that day. To my right, Calvin Keys was seated. We shook hands, and Calvin smiled. The room’s quiet was interrupted when people started to cry. Kelly had meant so much to the Bay Area community. A man sitting near us fainted, suddenly overwhelmed and emotional with grief. Keys rose to comfort the sobbing man who sat with head in hands. Keys’s calm, gentle presence provided solace to those at the funeral. As the organist finished a Duke Ellington piece, I quietly hummed the melody to myself. Keys gave me a knowing look and smiled again; the corners of his mouth turned up. The expression in his eyes was that he too recognized the song. I was reminded what a good listener he is.

I’ve heard Keys speak frequently of the Creator, reflecting on his religious faith. “Three words are important to me, ‘God is love. Love is God.’ This inspires my music. God gave me and blessed me with this talent to play guitar. The Creator is guiding me,” Keys says, “That’s why I want to spread this music all over the world. The music has a message, and I’m still searching for the right note.”

I often recall that summer of 1995, years ago when I first studied with Calvin Keys at Jazz Camp amid the towering redwood trees on the Pacific Coast. A highlight of the camp is the open mike in the evenings when attendees assemble bands and perform for the camp. I’d decided to play a version of John Coltrane’s ballad “Naima” in a chord melody for guitar that I’d arranged, the first of dozens of such arrangements of jazz standards I would create in subsequent years. I played the song in a duet, bass and guitar. I had little performance experience at that time, so I was nervous. I had observed earlier in the week that Jazz Camp’s audience is perhaps the world’s friendliest. I’ve even seen the audience cheer at a mistake, especially when the performer realized the error and corrected herself. My performance came off well; after playing the melody, I relaxed as I eased into the improvisation. Being shy, I was surprised at the applause I received after finishing. I looked to my left and Calvin Keys was walking toward me out of the shadows cast on curtains and stage floor, making his way swiftly toward me on center stage. He gave me a knowing look with a smile spread wide across his face. His eyes had an excited look. He hugged me. I stood silent for a minute overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment, as “Naima” remains a moving song to play and hear. We didn’t exchange any words, though none were necessary. Calvin seemed to be saying, “David, you’ve done well.”

David McGee is a San Francisco Bay Area blues and jazz guitarist. He recorded the 2000 CD The Gentle Rain of jazz standards. He’s performed with saxophonist Charles Unger, harmonica player and singer Michael Handler, pianists Kelly Park and Larry O’Leno, and vocalist Jean Mazzei in addition to leading performances under his own name. He recently appeared in director Val Hendrickson’s stage adaptation in San Francisco of William Saroyan’s My Heart’s in the Highlands, playing the role of an itinerant blues guitarist.

Links:
www.calvinkeys.com
www.bruceforman.com
www.myspace.com/duncanjamesguitar
www.mimifoxjazzguitar.com/
www.tompkinssquare.com/
www.yoshis.com
www.heritageguitar.com/indexb.html
www.jazzcampwest.com
www.57thstreetgallery.com

There is a wide world of mainstream jazz guitarists out there, active but sub-current in the larger jazz world. Too often, though, that world gets less attention than the more hyphenated realms of jazz-rock or jazz-soul guitar action. Count Calvin Keys as one guitarist with a firm grasp of the clean-toned mainstream tradition, but also one who brings plenty of his own personal touches to the music.

Mr. Keys, who brought his trio to SOhO on Monday, is a Bay Area-based player we got a good taste of last year when he was in concert with Ben Sidran at the Marjorie Luke Theatre. At SOhO, joined by sure-handed young bassist Matt Montgomery and drummer Kindred Freedman, Mr. Keys showed what he is musically made of, and the result was impressive. He qualifies as one of those perennial artists who deserve wider recognition, and it was a pleasure to catch him up close and personal.

Over the years, the Nebraska-raised Mr. Keys has worked with famed organists Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Lonnie Smith (also heard Saturday at the Solvang Jazz Festival). The special skill set that comes from working in a classic organ trio, mixing up blues, standards and soul grooves, seems to have strongly influenced Mr. Keys' approach to the instrument, and he understands how to deal with the lean setting of his trio.

Opening the show with a suave version of "Witchcraft," then moving to funkier and modal tunes "I Can't Get Started" and a New Orleans-grooved version of Sonny Rollins' "Oleo," Mr. Keys was consistently engaging. He deftly handled chording and flurrying single lines, and he wasn't afraid to let the spaces breathe. He kept variety working in his solos, in rhythmic and thematic ways. In other words, the lights were on, technical facility was on tap and he seemed keen to keep solos alive and in search mode.

In the second set, Mr. Keys shifted to another project currently on his plate, an album in tribute to the great jazz pianist-composer Horace Silver. From the guitarist's work-in-progress, to be called "Silver Keys," he presented distinctive takes on Mr. Silver's "Satchmo's Song," as a rolling waltz, and on "Barbara." Also on the songlist this night were old classics "Green Dolphin Street" and "All the Things You Are," but they were played with a combination of interpretive freshness and fidelity -- a delicate balance this guitarist has easy command of.

THERE IS A wealth of hard swinging jazz guitarists in the Bay Area, but for the past 30 years, no player has offered a more beguiling blend of power and finesse than Calvin Keys. I was reminded of his almost feline grace while listening to his trio, featuring bassist David Williams and drummer David Rokeach, at Anna's Jazz Island in downtown Berkeley on a recent Wednesday night (a regular gig he returns to Wednesday). Playing a set of standards, he turned each familiar piece into an extended adventure. His arrangement of Jobim's "Wave," for instance, transformed the bossa nova chestnut into a simmering, bluesy excursion set to a propulsive walking bass line. "I wanted the 'Killer Joe' effect," Keys said after the set, referring to the 1960 hit by Benny Golson. "Everybody does it as a bossa. I said, let's swing it."

The longtime Oakland resident is hardly a well-kept secret. Earlier this year he released "Vertical Clearance" (Wide Hive Records), a tour de force that's received widespread airplay. The album features a large cast of collaborators, including alto sax great Sonny Fortune, vibraphonist Roger Glenn, organist Doug Carn and drummer Babatunde Lea, but the economics of jazz these days means that Keys usually performs with a trio. That's the context he'll working in Friday when he opens a three-night run at Jazz at Pearl's in North Beach, where he'll be joined by Mark Williams on bass and drummer Lorca Hart, who's continuing the brilliant percussion tradition of his father, Billy Hart.
"He plays just as much drums as his daddy," Keys said. "He brings another level of energy to the table."

At 64, Keys is as busy as ever. He's releasing a new trio CD next month, "Handmade Portrait," featuring Williams and Rokeach, and he's working on a tribute to Horace Silver, "Silver Keys." Whatever context he performs in, Keys is a subtle but forceful improviser who has accompanied jazz greats such as Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, John Handy and Blue Mitchell. He credits his long tenure in Ahmad Jamal's quartet with honing his pianistic approach to the guitar.
"Working with Ahmad, I guess I developed a certain emotional drive," said Keys, who's been a professional musician since he left Omaha, Neb. at 17. "Ahmad's music has that force. I felt it deep inside my bones the first time I heard Ahmad, just like the first time I heard Monk play."
Jamal first hired Keys in 1974 when the guitarist came off the road with Ray Charles and was living in Los Angeles (he settled in Oakland in 1975). Keys spent the next six years touring the world as part of Jamal's band with bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant. He left Jamal in 1980 to freelance, but he's returned to work with the pianist numerous times, and remains part of the Jamal's extended musical family. "Calvin is one of my favorite players," Jamal said in a 2002 interview. "He's been one of my mainstays for years. He has a tremendous warmth and technical facility in his work, and he's very serious about what he does. He's a consummate gentleman, and humanitarian."

During a career spanning a half century, Calvin Keys has become one of the leading lights of the West Coast jazz scene, boasting an eclectic style that encompasses soul, gospel, R&B, funk, bebop, deep blues, and even hip-hop. The Bay Area-based Keys began his career in the ’50s, playing blues and R&B with various artists on the “Chitlin’ circuit” [a string of venues throughout the Eastern and Southern states catering primarily to African-American audiences], but he grew frustrated with the limitations of those genres, and became increasingly fascinated with the jazz stylings of players such as Tal Farlow and Wes Montgomery.
Keys’ rapidly expanding vocabulary inspired him to add chromatic lines and bop phrasing to his pentatonic-based blues, and, during the ’60s, he landed stints with the revered Hammond B-3 organ trios of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, and Groove Holmes—all of whom reveled in Keys’ ability to merge soulful blues with jazz sensibilities.
Keys launched his solo career in 1971 with the release of Shawn Neeq, and then spent the early ’70s touring and recording with Ray Charles, while concurrently pursuing his own work. He also got the opportunity to join pianist Ahmad Jamal’s band, and, later, relocated to San Francisco, where he played with such luminaries as Tony Bennett, Pharaoh Sanders, and Sonny Stitt. Heart surgery sidelined Keys temporarily in 1997, although he never really stopped playing. His latest CD, a collection of standards called A Handmade Portrait [Silverado], showcases his Wes Montgomery-inspired octaves lines and rich chording, his fast and percussive Tal Farlow-esque runs, and his Grant Green-like ability to move seamlessly between blues, ballads, and standards. Throughout all of this variegated work, however, the blues remains the one constant in his playing.

“It’s always back there behind whatever I do,” he says. “I don’t have to be playing pentatonic scales to be bringing the blues out in my playing. When I’m improvising, that feel is just natural. It’s in the way I phrase, and in the emotional quality of the lines I tend to favor.”
Keys’ organic tone is derived from a combination of thumb, fingers, and a triangular Dunlop heavy pick, as well as from a Heritage Golden Eagle Calvin Keys Model hollowbody plugged into a 100-watt Polytone Mini-Brute IV loaded with one 15" Celestion. His strings are D’Addario, gauged .012-.056.
“That’s the only setup I’ll ever need,” he says. “I’ll add a little reverb on the Polytone, and that’s more than enough for me.”

With sideman credits including Ray Charles and Ahmad Jamal, Calvin Keys of the Bay Area makes a strong showing on Vertical Clearance, his second release for the eclectic Wide Hive label. It's an enigmatic mix of old- and new-school sounds, produced by Gregory Howe of the post-fusion collective Variable Unit. The majority of the cuts have multiple composer credits, suggesting a free-flowing, collaborative esthetic. Keys' unadorned soul-jazz guitar glides through an array of sonic environments, with funk, acid-jazz and DJ-culture influences and an extensive roster of players - including saxophonist Sonny Fortune, trombonist Phil Ranelin and drummer Babatunde Lea, to name a few.

"Mrgky" kicks off the session with Latin flavor, but the mood veers toward beat-oriented abstraction with "Spreading Spirit" and "Unresolved Daydream." The only outbreak of swing occurs on "Proceed With Caution '06", one of two Keys-authored cuts. Other highlights include Headnodic's programming on Secaucus S. Rutherford," Roger Glenn's vibes on the title track and Fortune's alto atmospherics on the off-kilter "Seven and Sonny Straight Up." Nothing, however, beats the locked-down groove of "Drunk Monk."

“Jazz is freedom of expression - no boundaries. I play what I feel; people call it whatever they like...” Calvin Keys
Omaha native, guitarist extraordinaire Calvin Keys bursts on the music scene in 2006 with one of the most compelling modern jazz records to date. Its simply titled “Vertical Clearance.” If you dig passionate guitar playing that is raw, down and dirty with twist of classic Grant Green tossed in, then you’ll absolutely adore this record.

Although this is only my second, encounter with perplexing musical repertoire of guitarist Calvin Keys I vividly his second album in recorded in 1973 titled “Proceed With Caution,” on BlackJazz Records. Introduced to jazz by his father at a young age Keys later began playing professionally at 17. Since then, the talented guitarist graduated into a wider scope playing and recorded with notable musicians like Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Ray Charles, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDufff, Groove Holmes and was mentored by bassist Gerald Holts.

On the opening track, Mr. Keys is playing with a profound measure of emergency on the "Afro Latin" inspired “Mrkgy.” As expected, he delivers the goods with raw and energized playing accented by tight horns mixed in for good measure is certainly well worth the price of admission.

Mr. Keys effectively changes directions on the next track with the atmospheric “Spreading the Spirit.” Calvin’s tonality without question is artistically brilliant, he soars with unmatched reverie, and he undoubtedly came to play on this project.

The next few selections on “Vertical Clearance” by Keys and company will take you on a marvelous journey that want be forgotten anytime soon ... at least by me. Memorable, yes this session is challenging, loose, funky, and lyrically refreshing without being overproduced or understated.

After traveling through this grueling expedition of timeless music by guitarist, Calvin Keys it's foreseeable the next objective for me will be obtaining as many of his early recordings as possible. Oh yea, he’s that good! In addition, for the record, song for song the potency of the music on this album symbolizes the lyrical swagger one expects from artist of his magnitude. If you truly love music, then head to the nearess record store and pick up “Vertical Clearance” by Calvin Keys ... his music will take you in flight to a new dimension in modern jazz.

Visit, Calvin Keys web space: widehive.com/calvin_keys

Listen & Purchase: amazon.com

Consider the groove.  Think of the kind of music that gets a group of listeners to nod/tap/shake their collective heads/feet/booties.  Think of this music as a spiritual communion, a sharing with those making the sound and those hearing it.  Think of the essence of this music: a steady and solid rhythmic base, leaving plenty of room for the soloist or singer to tell a story.  Then stop thinking and focus on wanting to dance yourself silly while listening to this music.
“Soul Food” in the May 17-23 edition of Listen & Be Heard contained a quote from Vallejo drummer Babatunde Lea. “I’m not a religious man, but I do believe in spirit, that it intervenes in our lives in mysterious ways.” These words could be used to describe Vertical Clearance, the recent CD by Calvin Keys on Wide Hive Records.

Lea, in fact, is one of four drummers who contributes to the music on this CD, along with Ron E. Beck, Darrell Green, and Thomas McCree.  A total of seventeen musicians join Keys to create eleven interventions of sound and rhythm. Long-time followers of jazz will recognize the name Sonny Fortune, whose creative work with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones and many others is part of the ongoing history of American music.  Lea and Fortune are part of an outstanding group of musicians on this CD. There are no weak moments in any of these songs.

The only information from the CD booklet is personnel, song titles and composers; it contains no roadmap for who played where on what.  A good idea, actually: it removes the option of reading about the music and forces the listener to interact with it.  Some of the sources are easy to identify, Doug Carn’s organ, Kat Ouano’s Rhodes piano, Roger Glenn’s vibes, probably Fortune on “Seven & Sonny Straight Up,” but none more obvious than Keys on guitar.  His solo work alone is reason enough to pick up this recording and play it again and again.  His chromatic and creative explorations never sound forced or pedantic.  His rhythm guitar work is just as impressive, always an equal part of the rhythm section, whether playing quick choppy chords like punctuation or letting the strings sustain and ring elliptically.

But don’t take my word for it.  Get a copy of this CD and let it intervene in your life.  It is a tribute to the musicians and the group leader that a collection of music can remain consistently excellent and interesting.  Take a quick mental inventory of your music collection and pick five recent recordings that still sound good from the first note to the last. Difficult?  Sure.  This one, which I’ve played every day since bringing it home, easily made my list.

And why?  I think the reason goes back to Babatunde Lea’s quote.  This music is from someone’s spirit and, in that most mysterious of ways, connects with our own.  Listen, the music says, we are here, let us enjoy our all-too-short stay.  It is no accident that one of the songs is titled “Spreading Spirit.”  This CD does so in huge quantities.  And you can dance to it. For ordering and additional information, visit www.widehive.com.

You can hear Calvin live at Anna’s Jazz Island in Berkeley on June 7 & 21.  For more information check our online calendars.

Calvin Keys calls an evening’s performance a love affair with his music and his audience – cause that’s what it is. This man who can list such sterling greats as Ray Charles, Ahmad Jamal, Carmen McCrea, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Gloria Lynn, M.C. Hammer, Sonny Stitt, Tony Bennett and Luther Vandross as just a few of the folks he has performed and/or recorded with, is so absolutely satisfied with "what the Creator chose for him to do" that he can’t but help spread that satisfaction and joy around as he calmly dazzles with his guitar. The Calvin Keys Trio played Saturday night at Pacifica’s Sanchez Concert Hall and it was the first presentation in Pacifica Performances 2004 Virtuoso Fingerstyle Guitar Series. Featuring Keys on guitar and eloquence, Matt Montgomery on standup bass and David Rockeach on drums, Keys was as generous with his band members as he was with his audience. He told his audience that newest trio member, bassist Montgomery, was "a force to be reckoned with," and that drummer Rokeach "provided the Trio’s foundation." Then he sincerely thanked his audience, "1,000 times for letting him come share this love." Then Mr. Keys played, and from note one, it was a love affair cool with this gentleman guitarist.

Opening with a Chick Corea number, Keys offered soft chords and mixed-in-the-batter string strut while brush drums and bop bass forbid all but the sweet glow of summer from filling up the room. Strolling along the frets, kicking out augmented and diminished chords with just the right sigh; Keys gave us Wes Montgomery’s "West Coast Blues." Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prevert and Johnny Mercer wrote the classic "Autumn Leaves" and when Keys played it, each note whispered of finger-snapped trimmings of red and gold. Earlier today, Keys was playing at the Comcast/San Jose Jazz Festival with among others pianist Elmer Gibson. One of the songs they played was Gibson’s "Innocence" and Keys put that next on the menu. Kind of a nice and easy wind island sunset climbed up and down the Keys keyboard as he confidently connected melody line with counterpoint. Though his fingers sail through acrobatics of master held guitar, Keys whole image in sound and sight is beautiful relaxation. The Trio finished out the set with a cayenne flavored bliss of bell-chimed guitar, salubrious kettle drums and switchback bass that nearly whipped the roof off the hothouse.

There’s a story behind the guitar Keys is current playing. Set in the hue of the native Nebraskan’s golden wheat, the Calvin Keys Golden Eagle model guitar was built and designed for Keys by Jazz Heritage Guitars. This places Keys in a select guitar series which also includes: Johnny Smith, Henry Johnson and Roy Clark. Keys received this guitar on a memorable occasion. On September 11, 1997, he had quadruple heart by-pass surgery and when he woke at 4 a.m. the nurse told him she had nothing but good news. His operation was a success and his guitar was delivered.

Keys has been playing guitar for 47 years. His lineless face appears almost ageless; it’s that look of living what you’re supposed to be doing. He’s got a lot of stories. Besides playing with Ray Charles, he and Charles were pals. They used to play dice and cards and chess, and Charles beat him every time. Keys couldn’t make it to Ray’s funeral because he was playing at a fundraiser for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. But that was no problem, for there were no words left unsaid between he and his friend.

Keys made it clear he liked playing at Pacifica’s Sanchez Concert Hall. He liked the warmth of its room, its acoustics and its style and he appreciated the obvious support of its crowd. He’s getting ready to tour internationally, Japan being first on his list, and he just feels "blessed" to do this thing he loves. "Speak Low" opened up his second set with narrative guitar and silk jump bass. The second tune "Invitation" featured Dave Rokeach on tone colored tumblers and Keys on rain on the roof, rhythm guitar. The next song "Spring Can Really Hang You Up" was a lullaby string and traps romp through playground puddles and first morning wishes. The Trio’s version of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and Johnny Mercer’s "Satin Doll" flowed like java on a date with a percolator and the "Miles Davis Theme Song" closed out the set with a honeymoon bass, guitar and drums that kept the motion on sway.

Calvin Keys is listed in the Leonard Feather Encyclopedia of Jazz as "legendary guitarist." For those lucky enough to pull up a seat at his Sanchez Concert Hall concert, the "Legend" was all real love and knowledge, joy-hooked on the magic of six champion strings. Four stars.

For more information on Mr. Keys type into calvinkeys.com. Also to keep yourself updated on the place where hip is happening, type into the Sanchez Concert Hall’s website at pacificaperformances.org.

Calvin Keys plays a double set recorded live from the Maybeck recital Hall in Berkeley, California which was later broadcast on KJAZ in Alameda as part of their ‘See’s Sunday Night’ series hosted by Bud Spangler. Once again it is released on the LifeForceJazz Record label, the home of great mainstream jazz music headed by Dawan Muhammad. Joining Calvin on stage is Tim Hauf on bass and Gaylord Birch on drums.

Calvin has been an influential guitarist for many years playing with such notables as Jimmy Smith, Carmen McCrae, Pharaoh Saunders, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Ahmad Jamal and Jack McDuff to namedrop just a little and yet as one US jazz DJ writes ‘Calvin is one of jazz’s best kept secrets’.

This live set could change all that and he chooses a set of standards for his live audience including Miles’ ‘The Theme’ and the incomparable ‘All Blues’. He gives us a dazzling display on Kenny Burrell’s ‘Chitlins Con Carne’ and one of the best renditions of ‘Invitations’ made popular by vocalist Carmen Lundy on her ‘Stolen Moments’ set, indeed at sixteen and a half minutes long it would have filled a vinyl side on its own many years ago. His chord inversions on this track are typical of the album’s menu and tight rhythm trio add those measured statements with Tim Hauf’s bass walking a journey of its own to the elegant brush strokes of Gaylord Birch, truly a memorable track.

For a guitar trio to function, especially live, I think the role of the guitar has not only to be a melody instrument but also to provide substance to the tracks with resplendent chords engraved into the track and intertwined in such a way that the track has variety and doesn’t lose its dynamic shape,. This is perfectly demonstrated by Calvin on Randy Weston’s ‘Hi Fly’ with a chorus of lead and one of chord runs, which captivate the listener.

I first started listening (and playing guitar) in 1962 and a few years later I heard ‘Chitlins Con Carne’ on a Jimmy Smith album featuring Kenny Burrell and it brings back many happy memories to hear Calvin perform it in a similar ilk to the original, full of lightening riffs and chord inversions.

‘Secret Love’ was a hit song in the sixties for British girl Kathy Kirby and Calvin lets it fly in this uptempo version in a ten minute extravaganza.

The ballad ‘I Remember Clifford’ by Benny Golson is a late night trip in the Wes Montgomery/Kenny Burrell/Mundell Lowe style with Keys exploring the instrument’s harmonics and providing a reverent rendition of this classic.

His covers of Miles’ ‘The Theme’ and ‘All Blues’ are augmented by some clever interplay with the bass.

I am particularly a fan of ‘Bus Scene’ by Bernard Taylor as it is a Latin Bossa and this version is the killer cut out an amazing album of guitar virtuoso, the emphasis on some of the key notes by Keys highlights his harmonic and structural invention.

The classics ‘Stella By Starlight’ and ‘My Funny Valentine’ are sure to be crowd pleasers on an album which has careful attention to detail and a ‘must have’ for all ‘would-be’ jazz guitarists. Here is a role model and the criteria whereby the standards are set.

At times there’s something ethereal about the absorbing guitar work of virtuoso Calvin Keys and yet even on extended listenings of both the CDs in this ‘twin-set’ he never lost my attention. That’s rare for any jazz artist but there again this man and his giant talent are rare.

He’s been on the scene for many years and featured with legends like Earl Hines, Ray Charles, Ahmad Jamal and Pharoah Sanders and yet he prefers to live quietly in Oakland, California where in addition to appearing at major festivals he takes recording dates as featured guitarist and teaches at schools, colleges and music camps.

What makes this man different is that he’s not solely a single string improviser but is just as happy exploring the chords of both his own and standard compositions with what – if he were a pianist we’d call "block chords". His fluency in both disciplines is staggering and his flights of imagination seem to have no end. As I said he’s rare and his work brings to mind other giants with similarly endless flows of delightful original ideas like Paul Gonsalvez. The pioneer Sidney Bichet, Django Reinhardt (of course!) and Sonny Rollins.

These are delightful tracks and if your worried about trying someone new think Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Bucky Pizzarelli, Barney Kessel, and then some. Yes, I think this guy is listenable, more inventive, has more variety, more ideas, more interesting invention, In fact, it’s time Pete King booked him for Ronnie Scott’s. When he does I’ll be there…

Calvin Keys Has played many styles of music including Gospel, Blues, Pop, Country and even more modern Hip Hop but his preferred flavor is jazz and together with his bassist Tim Hauf and drummer Bob Braye offer a delightful album in the early George Benson, Kenny Burrelll, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis vein.

This is a live recording performed at the Big Basin Academy of Art and Music in Saratoga, California which created by Michael Briseno ably assisted by Dawan Muhammad who established this venue where student and teachers alike could come and blend in what is described as, ‘a serene and natural environment’.

Calvin has chosen some interesting material for the album with Mccoy Tyner’s ‘Blues On The Corner’ an almost eleven minute extravaganza synonymous with a live performance and has a very Kenny Burrel feel to it. Like Burrell, Calvin has also played with organ maestro Jimmy Smith.

His version of Antonio Carlos Jobim ‘Once I Loved’ is magnificent with a solo guitar intro meandering to a mid tempo rendition of this bossa classic with intricate improvised chord structures and a wonderful bass solo from Tim Hauf.

Calvin tackles Miles’ ‘The Theme’ in fine style with a series of lightning fast riffs in the Wes Montgomery or Mundell Lowe mould and his interpretation of Freddie Hubbard’s signature tune ‘Little Sunflower’ which highlights some magical counterpoint between guitar and bass reminiscent of the arrangement with Hubbard and Al Jarreau on vocal duties.

Calvin has penned two tracks o the set, the opening ‘Abdullah’ which is a mid tempo ‘scene setter’ with progressive chord patterns and the all Too sFort beautiful ballad, ‘Marella’ which is in the style of Benson’s cover of the Lennon and McCartney classic ‘Here, There and Everywhere’.

A thirteen minute version of Ann Ronnell’s classic ‘Willow Weep For Me’ completes the selections recorded over two memorable nights by one of the county’s finest jazz guitarists. Comparable with those early Benson albums, Bad Benson, White Rabbit and Cookbook of the late 60s / early 70s.

I believe that a ‘live’ guitar trio has to work so much harder than most line-ups and it takes an extremely talented and competent guitarist to retain the interest of the listener whilst trying to combine the melody with chord structure and interplay with the rhythm section. The choice material is paramount and I think Calvin Keys talent has provided another ‘classic guitar’ album which will delight purists and enhance his own reputation.

When Calvin Keys’ Detours Into Unconscious Rhythms was released on SF-based Wide Hive records in 2000, it brought the jangle riffing of jazz-funk guitar to the attention of a generation more familiar with Wesley Snipes than Wes Montgomery. The album featured some of the Bay Area’s best young musical talent (including organist Kat Ouano, vocalist Scheherazade Stone, flutist Tim Hyland, and turntablist DJ Zeph) in addition to veterans like keyboardist Chester Thompson (Santana), drummer Ron E. Beck (Tower of Power), and vibraphonist Roger Glenn (Donald Byrd). Detours was the first release in seven years for Keys, a semilegendary figure on the circuit known for his work oin the Black Jazz label and for recording and touring with Ahmad Jamal and Ray Charles.

"I write from experience," Keys explains. He notes that Shanique, his first album for Black Jazz, was named after his then-newborn niece. "I tried to capture the beauty of bringing a brand-new baby into the household. Now if that ain’t love and beauty, what is?"

According to Keys, "An unconscious rhythm is that song that you hear on the radio that you like, but you don’t know what it is. And you go through the house humming it for the next couple of days or a week until you hear it again and go, ‘Oh, that’s that song.’ It’s been embedded into your subconscious." As for the "detours" part, he adds, "We all have to take detours in our lives to get to the one."

Keys knows a thing or two about detours, having played jazz, or what he calls "American classical music," for 45 of his 60 years. He describes jazz as "one of the most powerful forces on the planet." Although he now lives in Oakland, Keys grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He learned his craft by sitting in with older musicians, a favor he says he wants to return. Given a new lease on life after a successful quadruple-bypass operation five years ago, Keys has a renewed sense of purpose. "What I’m trying to do here is to take the experience and the knowledge that I’ve obtained through the years and pass it on to the younger generation," he says.

For the past year and a half, Keys and his band, the Renegade Sidemen, have been holding down a regular Monday night slot at Anna’s, the Berkeley "jazz bistro" with an old-timey, speakeasy feel (1801 University Avenue; 510-849-ANNA). It’s a toss-up as to which is sweeter – Anna’s always delicious desserts, or the sound of Keys playing the soul out of his guitar. In any event, to be able to hear a musician of Keys’ stature in an intimate setting for a minimal cover ($4) is just another reason to appreciate Berkeley.

A recent Monday night found Keys and friends traversing blues and jazz territory with equal finesse. At times, his fluid fingerpicking threatened to free itself completely from its rhythmic moorings and escape the building into the night sky. Though it’s apparent that he’s a master of the six-string, Keys humbly downplays his abilities, "I’m just another brother out here trying to share the love that I’ve learned to express through my music," he says." That’s where I’m at right now. I guess I have always been there, but I’ve never been able to express it like I’m able to now."

With his lean single-note style, veteran jazz guitarist Calvin Keys is a subtle but forceful improviser. His style will be on display this weekend when his trio, featuring bassist David McKinney and drummer David Rokeach, performs as part of the Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Second Sunday series at Stanford University Campbell Recital Hall.
Keys’ trio has developed into a cohesive unit capable of generating a fierce sense of swing. He credits his long tenure in Ahmad Jamal’s quartet with honing his pianistic approach to the guitar.

"Working with Ahmad, I guess I developed a certain emotional drive," Keys says. "Ahamd is a master of time. I would characterize it using the old Caucasian way of describing this music, jungle music. It has that force. I felt it deep inside my bones the first time I heard Ahmad." It was "just like the first time I heard Monk play. It was that powerful, or I wouldn’t have bothered with it."

Jamal first hired Keys in 1974, when the guitarist came off the road with Ray Charles and was living in Los Angeles (he settled in Oakland in 1975). Keys spent the next six years touring the world as part of Jamal’s quartet with bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant. He left Jamal in 1980 to freelance, but he has returned to work with the pianist many times.

"Calvin is one of my favorite players," says Jamal. "He’s been one my mainstays for years. He has a tremendous warmth and technical facility in his work, and he’s very serious about what he does. He’s a consummate gentleman and humanitarian."

Key, born and raised in Omaha, Neb., started teaching himself guitar as a teenager, when he would sneak over and play his uncle Ivory’s Gibson, even though he’d been warned away from the instrument with the threat of a whipping. When his uncle caught him one day, he was so impressed that the youngster had learned some chords by watching him play Delta blues that he gave his nephew his prized instrument.

"For the next six months I was up all night with that guitar," Keys says.

He landed his first paying gig at 17, working a sioux City, Iowa joint called Po’ Boys Club 54 with an R&B band called Doctor Spider and his Rock and Roll Web. Keys recalls the music scene around Omaha as a talent-laden environment that was constantly enriched by traveling players. In one memorable encounter the blues singer and alto saxophonist Eddie Cleanhead Vinson called him out at a jam session and taught him the chords to the Miles Davis tune "Four". When Keys returned the next week ready to show off the solo he had developed on the chord changes of "Four", Vinson called a different Davis piece, "Tune Up".

"Cleanhead really inspired me to start doing some other kinds of research," Keys says.

The guitarist spent most of the ‘60s on the road playing with various organ combos, including brief stints with Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff and longer runs with Jackie Ivory, Jackie Davis and Frank Edwards, who provided Keys with a strong jazz history foundation.

"Frank turned me on to Duke Ellington and Count Bassie and the real music," Keys says. "He knew all the tunes. After I cut Frank loose, I was after something else, but I wasn’t sure what. But I knew I wanted to get my own band and do my own thing."

Since coming off the road with Jamal, Keys has led various groups of his own and recorded a number of albums for local labels such as Black Jazz and Life Force. His latest release is the scorching R&B-oriented session "Detours Into Unconscious Rythms" on Wide Hive Records. Although a quadruple heart bypass operation in 1997 slowed him down for a minute, he has come back strong, playing, recording and teaching with gusto.

"I just turned 60, and I feel like I’m 25, and I’m enjoying every breath I take," Keys says. "I’m having so much fun. If I left out of here today, I have no regrets. But the next 10 years are going to be the most beautiful 10 years of my life."

Calvin Keys

Where: Campbell Recital Hall, Stanford University
When: 7:30pm Sunday
Tickets: $20
Call: (650) 725-2787

When Bruce Forman was creating the JazzMasters Workshop, the non-profit organization that provides free weekly jazz guitar clinics to any young musician who shows up at one of the four sites around the Bay Area, he knows the perfect candidate to recruit as a teacher.

Forman turned to Calvin Keys, the same consummate musician who had serves as his mentor some 25 years before, when he was a budding young guitarist eager to soak up any and all jazz experience possible.

"Calvin let me sit in and was very encouraging," Forman says. "I even subbed for him when I was in high school. So having him to agree to do the workshop was great. There’s a continuity of the mentoring cycle. As much as he’s technically proficient and versed in the tradition, Calvin is a natural. His playing is so deep in the pocket and comes off so elegant and effortless. I know how hard it is to de what he’s doing."

The JazzMasters program recently marked its milestone 250th free clinic (adults are also welcome for a $20 fee). Since the organization was founded in January 2001, Keys has taught more workshops than any other guitarist except Forman. For Keys, the program offers the opportunity to pass on the knowledge he gleaned during his years playing the chitlin’ circuit with bluesy organ combos, touring with Ray Charles, serving as musical director for Earl "Fatha" Hines and collaborating with Ahmad Jamal.

Keys conducts his next round of workshops March 18 at the Carmel Youth Center, March 19 in Mountain View at the Guitar Activity Center, March 20 at Enrico’s in San Francisco’s North Beach, and March 21 at the Alice Arts Center in Oakland. See www.jazzmastersworkshop.org for information on workshop dates and locations.

"There’s a whole new crop coming up, and they’re going to develop some different things; you watch," says Keys, 60.

"There’s a certain torch being passed around. That torch was passed to me at some point in my life, and I’m trying to keep it burning by handing it on to some of the youngsters."