Wynton Kelly

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis · 1959

Wynton KellyWynton Kellyウィントン・ケリー appears on only one track from Kind of BlueKind of BlueMiles Davis · 1959 — 'Freddie Freeloader' — while Bill EvansBill Evansビル・エヴァンス played the rest. Kelly's blues-drenched phrasing offers a vivid contrast to Evans's impressionism, and that single track remains one of his most celebrated performances.

— Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, Ashley Kahn, 2000

From 1958 to 1962, Jimmy CobbJimmy Cobbジミー・コブ was Miles DavisMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス's regular drummer. After the quintet dissolved, he formed the Wynton Kelly Trio with Wynton KellyWynton Kellyウィントン・ケリー and Paul ChambersPaul Chambersポール・チェンバース, carrying on the standard for hard-bop rhythm sections.

— So What: The Life of Miles Davis, John Szwed, 2002

After Miles DavisMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス's quintet dissolved, Wynton KellyWynton Kellyウィントン・ケリー formed the Wynton Kelly Trio with Paul ChambersPaul Chambersポール・チェンバース and Jimmy CobbJimmy Cobbジミー・コブ. As the rhythm section on Wes Montgomery's 1965 Smokin' at the Half Note, they left a defining model of the hard-bop trio.

— Smokin' at the Half Note, Wikipedia, 1965

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis · 1959

Kelly Blue

Wynton Kelly · 1959

Giant Steps

John Coltrane · 1960

Blue Spring

Kenny Dorham Septet Featuring Cannonball Adderley · 1959

Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb played as one of the great piano trios. But the bond ran deeper than the bandstand: when Chambers died in 1969, Cobb recalled, Kelly sank into heavy drinking — he had loved Paul — and Kelly himself was gone by 1971.

— Statement stmt-jimmy-cobb-on-paul-chambers-2

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis · 1959

Giant Steps

John Coltrane · 1960

Kelly Blue

Wynton Kelly · 1959

A.T.'s Delight

Art Taylor · 1960

Kind of Blue is remembered for its pianist's modal chords, but the one blues track was actually played by someone else, Wynton Kelly. That same year, Kelly also turns up on Coltrane's harmonically brutal Giant Steps — not on the punishing title track, but on the album's one quiet ballad, 'Naima.'

I think he claimed that happened maybe after Paul died, that he was - he liked Paul so much, he started - he used to drink a lot.

Asked when Wynton Kelly's health declined, Cobb traces it to the period after Chambers's death.