Kenny Kirkland w/ Jerry Gonzalez, Darryl Jones, Jeff Watts - July 3, 1986 - Discovery, New York City

This was a one-off gig on the eve of the July 4th weekend on a hot Thursday in NYC. Discovery was a small bar/restaurant in Greenwich Village. The band was loose and fooling around between songs and seemed there just to have a good time before a holiday weekend. The City had emptied out for the long weekend and I remember there being very little foot or road traffic, and the venue was not full. But it was a great opportunity to see Kenny Kirkland up close. He and Jones had left Wynton's band to tour with Sting the prior year, and they must have had some time off and decided to do a quick gig in their home town with their former band-mate Watts and local trumpeter Gonzalez. Kirkland was a brilliant pianist who suffered from poor health, and unfortunately, passed away about 12 years after this gig, at the age of only 43.
Kenny Kirkland - electric piano
Jerry Gonzalez - trumpet, congas
Darryl Jones electric bass
Jeff Watts -drums
00:00 Eighty-One (R. Carter, M. Davis)
12:00 Billie's Bounce (C. Parker)
23:17 Lament (J.J. Johnson)
33:14 What Is This Thing Called Love (C. Porter)
45:25 Ana Maria (W. Shorter)
55:55 Rhythm-a-ning (T Monk)
Recorded on a Sony Walkman Pro D6C with Sony ECM-102 stereo microphone. Uploaded solely for educational purposes and historical interest. Enjoy.

[@shiggins9]

What a treat to hear Kenny Kirkland come out with new releases! I am a huge fan and I thank you for sharing this set.

[@joshpaxton8864]

Awesome, thanks for sharing this!

[@raybart5604]

How great to hear some new Kenny Kirkland!

[@mikebassy]

My band is on here on KZbin too . On my channel a video in New York of me jamming the blues at smalls . Saw mike stern at the 55 bar years back . Saw the Branford Marsalis quartet with Kenny at Ronnie Scott’s in London in 1990 .

[@mikebassy]

The DX7 was a great keyboard of its time and had a great large scale layout so effectively an electric piano

[@mikebassy]

Coincidentally when I saw Kenny Barron in 1986 he was using a DX7 on top of the grand piano . This was at Ronnie Scott’s club. There is video of that band live without a audience I think . I had the vhs

[@steeb5303]

thank you for sharing!!! rhythm-a-ning (monk) at the end

[@StephenBuckingham]

Thanks for the ID! I thought it might be a Monk tune.

[@mikebassy]

Some groups I saw in 1986 were Chico Freeman with Kenny Barron . Art Blakey with Kenny Garrett . Horace Silver with Brian Bromberg and Vincent Herring . Weather Update with Joe Zawinul ha ha

[@mikebassy]

Mate … errrr I mean sir . What is the story here ? You had a pro Walkman in the 1980s and went to gigs and recorded all this stuff ? This Kenny Kirkland gig has woken me up in a big way . What is this thing called ? That solo on a DX7 keyboard is outstanding in so many ways , love the Latin feels with Jerry from the fort Apache band . Love that this group had been on tour with Sting and done the blue turtles stuff . Love that Jeff Tain Watts is incredible . What a gig . Well captured . Please check out my band the Mike Edmonds Quintet on Spotify, Jazz fusion from London now but year I was a teenager in the 1980s and people like Kenny and Branford Marsalis meant everything to us . Love this gig so much