Cyril Anthony Kinsey (born 11 October 1927) is an English jazz drummer and composer.
Kinsey was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. He held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, studying while at port with Bill West in New York City and with local musician Tommy Webster in Birmingham. He had a close association with Ronnie Ball early in his life; the two even had a double wedding together.
Kinsey led his own ensemble at the Flamingo Club in London through the 1950s, and recorded on more than 80 sessions between 1950 and 1977, including with Tubby Hayes, Bill Le Sage, Ronnie Scott, Johnny Dankworth, Tommy Whittle, Joe Harriott, Lena Horne, Frank Holder, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Clark Terry, Harry Edison, Buddy DeFranco, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, and Sarah Vaughan. He performed at European jazz festivals both as a drummer and as a poet. He did some work as a session musician in the 1950s and 1960s, playing on records by Eddie Calvert, Cliff Richard, and Ronnie Aldrich. Kinsey was also a founder member of the group, ‘The John Dankworth Seven’ in 1950.
He was a resident at the Florida Club, Leicester Square, in the 1950s and had his own trio from 1963 to 1965. In the mid 1980s he performed regularly with jazz vibraphone player Lennie Best at venues in the London area including the South Hill Park Cellar Bar in Bracknell.
Kinsey also branched into composition; a string quartet composition of his is used in the short film On the Bridge, and he wrote arrangements for big bands in addition to music for over 100 commercials. Later in his life he wrote music for a musical based on the life of George Eliot. He continues to play drums.
In 2012, Kinsey appeared in the documentary film, No One But Me, discussing jazz musician, Annie Ross. (wikipedia)
This drummer and composer’s initial training came at him from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, reflecting the unique nature of his younger days. Tony Kinsey toiled as a seaman on ships with transatlantic routing. At port in New York City, Kinsey partook of drum lessons with Bill West. Back home in Birmingham, England, Kinsey had been studying piano since a tyke; the drums he had taught himself with a local player named Tommy Webster also providing pointers. Kinsey went onto a splendid career on the British jazz scene, backing national names such as Johnny Dankworth as well as visiting stars, among them Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald as well as others — pianist Oscar Peterson, scat singing Sarah Vaughan — whose tempo preference nodded at the diabolical. The drummer took charge of his own proceedings on a regular basis during the ’50s at London’s Flamingo Club. Throughout that decade he performed at European jazz festivals, contexts including bebop, swing, and jazz poetry.
Between 1950 and 1977 he logged more than 80 recording sessions in the jazz genre alone, more than proving his ability in other styles when demanded. In the meantime, he pursued a compositional muse, developing an individual approach to chamber music. A Kinsey string quartet is part of the soundtrack to On the Bridge, a short film, not a meeting place for a ransom drop or instructions to a piano player. Speaking of the latter, Kinsey provided plenty of his own reports in a busy series of writing assignments, including big-band charts and arrangements and incidental music heard in at least 100 commercials. The most recent project of note for Kinsey is an extended musical theater work based on a book by George Elliot. (by Eugene Chadbourne)
And here´s one of his solo albums:
`Blue Circles’ was recorded live at the Ealing Jazz Festival in August 2002. The drummer, composer and arranger Tony Kinsey led his quartet featuring alto saxophonist Peter King in a performance that was dedicated to Bill Le Sage, a long time musical associate of Kinsey’s, who died in the spring of 2002.
The repertoire chosen was a selection of jazz favourites and standards, plus two originals by Tony Kinsey and Bill Le Sage. They were played to an appreciative audience with the style and passion one would expect from these talented musicians.
This quartet of seasoned jazzmen are all individually very well known and respected on the British jazz scene, and they have all been leaders in their own right. They have produced a great live album of straight-ahead swinging jazz.
Indeed, such fine musicians … long live these old traditonal Jazz tunes !
Personnel:
Alec Dankworth (bass)
John Horler (piano)
Peter King (saxophone)
Tony Kinsey (drums)
Tracklist:
01. I Love You (Porter) 7.57
02. Alone Together (Schwartz/Dietz) 10.14
03. Confirmation (Parker) 8.07
04. Blue Circles (Kinsey) 9.08
05. Close Your Eyes (Petkere) 8.14
06. All Blues (Davis) 9.28
07. Last Resort (Le Sage) 10.49
Cyril Anthony ‘Tony’ Kinsey (born 11 October 1927) is an English jazz drummer and composer.
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