WHAT WAS by Kenny Wheeler Sextet is the first release of a 1995 studio session, produced by Evan Parker. Paris-Move’s review of the album says it is “… as vital and immediate as anything already in the extended canon of Canadian-born, UK-based jazz master Kenny Wheeler.” Here are Nick Smart’s sleeve notes from the CD booklet.
What was then … never again
Nick Smart
Any previously unreleased studio session from a great artist is an exciting prospect, especially an artist sadly no longer with us but one whose legacy is still being cared for and curated by many of the musicians with whom they were closest. Such is the case with this outstanding recording from Kenny Wheeler’s sextet at Gateway Studio in late 1995, capturing a special period in his life with a special group of colleagues.
On What Was we hear Kenny at 65 years old and still at the height of his musical powers, but with the mature finesse and refinement consistent with all his playing during the nineties and particularly on his most successful recording of all time, made just a few months after this session in February 1996, Angel Song (ECM). This period is perhaps a kind of ‘second chapter’ in the evolution of his playing; after the fiery Wheeler of the 1970s we hear him now still full of passion and every bit as assured, but with the more reflective, glass-like quality that refined itself into his sound and self-expression around this time. In addition to that, this new release also brings together many of the people deeply connected with Kenny and his musical world throughout his entire career. It confirms what Brian Shaw and I were left in no doubt about when researching and writing Kenny’s biography: that people were at the centre of his musical development and identity. It was a theme repeated over and over. The musicians here draw together many important connections in his life: a long association with Ray Warleigh, who was a big voice in his large ensemble music; the presence of John Parricelli demonstrating Kenny’s awareness of and connection to some of the younger musicians coming through – post Loose Tubers such as John, Julian Argüelles, and latterly Martin France, Mark Lockheart, Steve Watts and others; and perhaps most significantly, we feel the importance of John Taylor’s sextet with the presence of four members in Kenny, Stan Sulzmann, and Chris Laurence, who along with Tony Levin bring their own unique, highly interactive feel to the rhythm-section. By this point the four of them (along with Ray Warleigh) embody decades of musical growth and development together, forging a unique sound and a collective voice of singular importance in European and World Jazz. Add into that Evan Parker’s role as chief instigator of this recording session and producer of the album, and practically every facet of Kenny’s musical family is represented.
This album stands out as a chance to hear Kenny play on compositions written by his colleagues too, with one swinging contribution from Mick Pyne as the only musician not actually in the group; his tune “Masbro”, probably written with Tubby Hayes’s group in mind and no doubt brought along to the session by Ray. Plus, two each from Ray Warleigh and Stan Sulzmann. Ray’s hard-boppish “Blue Nile” is almost befitting of the Jazz Messengers with its quartal harmony and afro-latin vamps, and the beautiful “Footloose” a much more Kenny-inspired melody underpinned with elegant, shifting chord changes. It is a reminder too just what a hugely important composer Stan Sulzmann is, as well as being one of the great saxophonists of contemporary European Jazz and one of the major, uniquely empathetic side-musicians associated with Kenny’s career. His “You’ve Read the Book” and “Newness” demonstrate his mastery of modern jazz harmony and melodic counter-point, one that carries Kenny’s traditions forward in new and unique ways while still honouring that connection. Kenny’s first contribution “What Was” is a fascinating thematic composition; he used a similar motif later as part of the final section of the “2005 Suite” composed for his 75th birthday – it’s not identical but the ascending and descending snakes and ladders character is very reminiscent. It is another bit of word play (“What Is This Thing Called Love?” / “What Was”), as so many of his titles are, and another example of his apparent fascination with that particular Cole Porter composition. It was a piece Kenny took as inspiration for the chord sequence of his own composition “Foxy Trot”, and one we found various arrangements and reharmonisations of in his archive. It is also a piece he even included, unusually for him, as part of one of his long-form suites, the “Sweet Sister Suite” also in the 1990s. So, it is fitting here that he should close out his own “What Was” by segueing into “Subconscious-Lee”, a contrafact by Lee Konitz on the chord sequence of “What Is This Thing Called Love?”. Lee must have been on Kenny’s mind, with the upcoming recording of Angel Song just months away. The link with Angel Song is present again on the final tune of Kenny’s, “Kind Folk”. In this iteration he records it as a ballad with three-part frontline presenting the haunting melody, but this composition had already been heard as an up-tempo straight 8’s piece in the second movement of his famous “Sweet Time Suite” (Music For Large & Small Ensembles, ECM, 1990), and in Kenny’s archive we found two earlier sketches of the same composition experimenting with different settings – one as a ballad called “Folking Ballad”, and a second as a waltz called “Folking Waltz”! Eventually, perhaps the most famous setting for it was in its gently rolling 9/8 version recorded for Angel Song just a few months after this album.
What Was is a welcome release that affords us a new chance to hear more of the combination already glimpsed on the earlier issued Dream Sequence (psi), which shared one studio date with this complete session. It’s another treasure in the important legacy of a much missed, and irreplaceable musician.
Song for Someone: The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler, by Nick Smart and Brian Shaw, was published by Equinox in 2025.
Album cover design: David Caines
Photograph: Caroline Forbes
