Calvin Keys

Jazz guitarist Calvin Keys is a legend among soul-jazz fans for his appearances as a session and touring musician and a catalog of releases under his own name. His 1971 Black Jazz debut, Shawn-Neeq, and his sophomore outing for the label, 1974′s Proceed with Caution, are both considered jazz-funk classics. Keys’ playing style is lean and muscular. His unique phrasing balances sophisticated jazz harmonics with funky R&B and soul grooves. Since the 1960s, Keys has worked as a session and touring player with Ahmad Jamal and others. His own recordings, including 1985′s Full Court Press, 2001′s Detours Into Unconscious Rhythms, and 2013′s Electric Keys have all been celebrated in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The star-studded Blue Keys, followed in 2022 and included saxophonist Gary Bartz, trombonist Steve Turre, and bassist Henry Franklin.
Keys was born in 1943 in Omaha, Nebraska. His first musical influence was his father Otis, a well-known drummer on the city’s music scene. He passed the music bug on to Calvin, who picked up the guitar early. Keys eventually landed his first notable gig as a member of Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson’s band when he was 17. He first hit the road with sax player Little Walkin' Willie that same year before moving to Kansas City. There, his first gigs were with Preston Love (of the Count Basie Orchestra) and later the Frank Edwards Organ Trio. After woodshedding with Edwards, he landed a spot in organist Jimmy Smith’s road trio. After leaving Smith, Keys worked for the rest of the ’60s with Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, and Richard "Groove" Holmes.
Keys moved to Los Angeles in 1970. In 1971, he signed to Gene Russell’s fledgling Black Jazz label and cut his debut album, the now-legendary Shawn-Neeq. He gigged on his own before auditioning for the Ray Charles Orchestra. Keys’ unique phrasing and his ability to balance sophisticated jazz harmonics with tough R&B and soul grooves were showcased nightly in the Charles band. In 1973, Black Jazz released Keys’ second offering, Proceed with Caution. He did session work for the label, and played on Russell’s Talk to My Lady and Doug Carn’s seminal Adam's Apple. He toured in support of Proceed with Caution before relocating to San Francisco in 1975 and focusing on live and session work. He played on Billy Brooks’ jazz-funk classic Windows of the Mind before joining Ahmad Jamal’s group in late 1975 and remaining until 1980. Keys recorded six albums with the pianist, beginning with Genetic Walk and 1976′s Live at Oil Can Harry's following important creative shifts in the pianist’s creative direction on albums such as Steppin' Out with a Dream, Intervals, One, and Night Song (the latter for Motown).
When not touring with Jamal, Keys worked in live settings and recorded sessions with luminaries John Handy, Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie Marshall, Leon Williams, Bob Braye, Ed Kelly, Eddie Duran, Bruce Forman, Junius Simmons, and Eddie Moore. In 1976, he also played on Doug and Jean Carn’s Ovation album Higher Ground. In 1977, Keys released Criss Cross for Ovation. Produced by Russell, his sidemen on the date included pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Henry Franklin, drummer Leon Ndugu Chancler, and trumpeter Oscar Brashear. He also cut One and Night Song with Jamal to close out the decade.
The 1980s proved similarly fruitful for Keys. He was a first-call studio and live sideman. He amassed credits and touring bona fides with Tony Bennett, Pharoah Sanders, and Sonny Stitt. Keys began recording another solo album in 1984. In 1985, Olive Branch Records released tracks from these sessions entitled Full Court Press, and followed it a year later with the remainder of the material on the album Maria’s First.
Keys continued playing sessions and performing with touring acts in the Bay Area as well as the occasional Los Angeles gig. In 1991 he was part of the studio band that recorded film composer James Newton Howard’s original score for the film Dying Young. Working with his own trio, Keys released Standard Keys on Lifeforce Records in 1992, and his session and live work continued at a relentless pace. He settled down in the Bay area and played his own trio gigs for several years. He did make a tour of Europe that resulted in Jamal’s Live in Paris 1996. An Evening with Calvin Keys, taken from a radio broadcast, was released that same year.
He was sidelined in 1997 by heart surgery, undergoing a quadruple bypass. Undaunted, he released the widely acclaimed Detours Into Unconscious Rhythms on Wide Hive Records. The large cast included organist Chester Thompson (Ray Charles, Santana) and upright bassist Kenneth Nash (from Jamal’s band). After the album’s release, Keys toured regionally in the U.S. and in Europe before returning to the Bay Area, where he performed with organists Big John Patton, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Taj Mahal. In 2005 Keys recorded Calvinesque for Silverado. The album hit number 30 on the European jazz charts.
His second Wide Hive release, Vertical Clearance, was issued in 2006. It reunited Keys with Carn, and included Phil Ranelin, Sonny Fortune, Roger Glenn, and Babatunde in its lineup. In 2007 Keys released Hand-Made Portrait on Silverado, and received a tribute from fellow Midwesterner — and fan — Pat Metheny, who composed and included the tune “Calvin’s Keys” on his album Day Trip. Keys appeared on Ranelin’s Living a New Day for Wide Hive and on organist Gloria Coleman’s Sweet Missy for Doodlin in 2009. In 2012 Tompkins Square Records re-released Shaw-Neeq exclusively on vinyl. Keys supported it by touring with a band, performing the album in its entirety. In 2018, he released the single “Nigerian Marketplace” with his own quartet, and the following year he played on Marty Krystall’s Liquid Krystal Displayed with bassist Buell Neidlinger and drummer Peter Erskine. In 2021, Shawn-Neeq appeared again in Real Gone Music’s ambitious Black Jazz catalog reissue program.
In August 2022, Wide Hive released Blue Keys, a star-studded sextet date. Its lineup included bassist and former Black Jazz labelmate Henry Franklin, saxophonist Gary Bartz, trombonist Steve Turre, and conguero Babatunde Lea. The set was produced by Throttle Elevator Music’s Gregory Howe. ~ Thom Jurek