CALVIN KEYS

Funk Jazz / Post Bop / Hard Bop / Fusion / Soul Jazz • United States
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Jazz guitarist Calvin Keys is a legend among soul-jazz fans for his appearances as a session musician and his small catalog of releases under his own name. Known for his lean, muscular single-string solo style, 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 during his that same year, before moving on 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 read more...
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CALVIN KEYS Discography

CALVIN KEYS albums / top albums

CALVIN KEYS Shawn-Neeq album cover 4.50 | 1 ratings
Shawn-Neeq
Fusion 1971
CALVIN KEYS Proceed With Caution ! album cover 5.00 | 1 ratings
Proceed With Caution !
Fusion 1974
CALVIN KEYS Full Court Press album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Full Court Press
Funk Jazz 1985
CALVIN KEYS Maria's First album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Maria's First
Funk Jazz 1987
CALVIN KEYS Detours into Unconscious Rhythms album cover 3.50 | 1 ratings
Detours into Unconscious Rhythms
Funk Jazz 2000
CALVIN KEYS Calvinesque album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Calvinesque
Post Bop 2005
CALVIN KEYS Calvin Keys Trio ‎: Hand Made Portrait album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Calvin Keys Trio ‎: Hand Made Portrait
Hard Bop 2006
CALVIN KEYS Vertical Clearance album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Vertical Clearance
Funk Jazz 2006
CALVIN KEYS Electric Keys album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Electric Keys
Fusion 2013
CALVIN KEYS Blue Keys album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Blue Keys
Soul Jazz 2022
CALVIN KEYS Simply Calvin album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Simply Calvin
Post Bop 2022

CALVIN KEYS EPs & splits

CALVIN KEYS live albums

CALVIN KEYS Standard Keys album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Standard Keys
Hard Bop 1997
CALVIN KEYS An Evening With Calvin Keys album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
An Evening With Calvin Keys
Post Bop 2003
CALVIN KEYS Close Enough For Love album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Close Enough For Love
Hard Bop 2015

CALVIN KEYS demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

CALVIN KEYS re-issues & compilations

CALVIN KEYS Criss Cross album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Criss Cross
Fusion 1977
CALVIN KEYS Touch album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Touch
Post-Fusion Contemporary 2000

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CALVIN KEYS Detours into Unconscious Rhythms

Album · 2000 · Funk Jazz
Cover art Buy this album from MMA partners
js
By the time the year 2000 rolled around, Calvin Keys was already a veteran of the soul jazz scene, having played his first gigs when he was a teenager back in the 60s. Originally from the mid-west, Calvin worked with all the major Hammond B-3 artists such as Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holmes before moving to LA in the early 70s. In the 90s Calvin re-located to the SF Bay Area just in time to enjoy that scene’s acid jazz explosion which made a musician with a good soul jazz resume an artist in demand. A lot of small labels sprang up in SF at this time to capitalize on a growing interest in mixing soul jazz with current hip-hop sensibilities. This was a scene that was unique to SF within the US, but it mirrored similar scenes in Europe, especially England. So it came to pass that Calvin was tapped by the Wide Hive label to record his first album as a leader in some time, as Wide Hive tried to capitalize on the Bay Area’s fascination with the merger of hip-hop and jazz.

“Detours into Unconscious Rhythms” is a very solid funk jazz record, and although there are nods to some trendy hip-hopisms, things do not get too watered down in an attempt to sound hip. Instead, Calvin and his crew focus on making great music that would fit any time period. Like most soul jazz cats, Calvin’s playing is based in the blues, but he eschews that Wes Montgomery octave sound that influenced so many other hard bop guitarists and instead goes for a more fleet fingered solo note style in a George Benson vein, but driven with fusion style repeating solo riffs that recall John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell. Calvin gets some good backing from his crew, particularly Chester Thompson who performs on several tracks with his Hammond B3.

Most of the tracks are great, “Tierra Naranja” is uptempo fusion with vibraphone contributions from Roger Glenn. Chester Thompson plays some Larry Young style organ work on “Perfection is Instant Death” with its almost prog rock sounding chord progression buildups and “Landing Pad” has some nice spacey psych Fender Rhodes from Kat Ouno. There is only one track with gratuitous record scratching. a feature that does date this album, but it is brief. There is one choral vocal track that some may find inspiring, while others may find it overwrought and dated, but otherwise this album is filled with top notch funk jazz fueled by Calvin’s very deft fret work.

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