Connie Kay

Connie Kay (born Conrad Henry Kirnon; 27 April 1927 – 30 November 1994) was an American jazz drummer. He was best known for his long membership in the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ).

He was self-taught, and began his career playing with saxophonist Lester Young's quintet from 1949 to 1955, and also with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and others.

Kay did R&B sessions for Atlantic Records in the early to mid-1950s, and featured on hit records such as Big Joe Turner's 'Shake, Rattle and Roll'.

Kay joined the MJQ in 1955, replacing original drummer Kenny Clarke, and stayed until the group's dissolution in 1974 and occasional reunions into the 1990s. He also played drums on several of Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison's most important albums: Astral Weeks, one song on Saint Dominic's Preview and four songs on Tupelo Honey.

Kay was known for incorporating percussion instruments alongside his drum kit, namely timpani, small cymbals, triangle, bell tree and darbukas, the latter referred to as "exotic-looking" drums in a 2006 article.

Discography

With the Modern Jazz Quartet

• Concorde (1955, Prestige 7005)
• Fontessa (1956, Atlantic 1231) included "Versailles"
• The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays No Sun in Venice (Atlantic, 1957)
• The Modern Jazz Quartet (Atlantic, 1957)
• Third Stream Music (1957, 1959–60, Atlantic. 1345) including "Sketch for Double String Quartet" (1959)
• The Modern Jazz Quartet and the Oscar Peterson Trio at the Opera House (Verve, 1957)
• The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn Volume 2 (Atlantic, 1958)
• Music from Odds Against Tomorrow (United Artists, 1959)
• Pyramid (Atlantic, 1960)
• European Concert (Atlantic, 1960 [1962])
• Dedicated to Connie (Atlantic, 1960 [1995])
• The Modern Jazz Quartet & Orchestra (Atlantic, 1960)
• The Comedy (1962, Atlantic 1390)
• Lonely Woman (Atlantic, 1962)
• A Quartet is a Quartet is a Quartet (1963, Atlantic 1420)
• Collaboration (Atlantic, 1964) – with Laurindo Almeida
• The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (Atlantic, 1964–65)
• Jazz Dialogue (Atlantic, 1965) with the All-Star Jazz Band
• Concert in Japan '66 (Atlantic [Japan], 1966)
• Blues at Carnegie Hall (Atlantic, 1966)
• Place Vendôme (Philips, 1966) – with The Swingle Singers
• Under the Jasmin Tree (Apple, 1968)
• Space (Apple, 1969)
• Plastic Dreams (Atlantic, 1971)
• The Legendary Profile (Atlantic, 1974)
• In Memoriam (Little David, 1973)
• Blues on Bach (Atlantic, 1973)
• The Last Concert (Atlantic, 1974)
• Reunion at Budokan 1981 (Pablo, 1981)
• Together Again: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival '82 (Pablo, 1982)
• Echoes (Pablo, 1984)
• Topsy: This One's for Basie (Pablo, 1985)
• Three Windows (Atlantic, 1987)
• For Ellington (East West, 1988)
• MJQ & Friends: A 40th Anniversary Celebration (Atlantic, 1992–93)

As sideman

With Ruth Brown

• Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1957)
• Miss Rhythm (Atlantic, 1959)

With Miles Davis

• Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (Columbia Legacy, 2015)

With Paul Desmond

• First Place Again (Wartner Bros., 1959)
• Desmond Blue (RCA Victor, 1961)
• Two of a Mind (RCA Victor, 1962) with Gerry Mulligan
• Take Ten (RCA Victor, 1963)
• Bossa Antigua (RCA Victor, 1964)
• Glad To Be Unhappy (RCA Victor, 1964)
• Easy Living (RCA Victor, 1963-65 [1966])
• Pure Desmond (CTI, 1975)

With Bill Evans & Bob Brookmeyer

• The Ivory Hunters (United Artists, 1959)

With Cannonball Adderley

• Know What I Mean (Riverside, 1961)

With Jimmy Heath

• Swamp Seed (Riverside, 1963)

With Chet Baker

• Chet (Riverside 1959)

With Milt Jackson

• Milt Jackson Quartet (Prestige, 1955)
• Plenty, Plenty Soul (Atlantic, 1957)
• Bean Bags with Coleman Hawkins (Atlantic, 1958)
• Bags' Opus (United Artists, 1958)
• The Ballad Artistry of Milt Jackson (Atlantic, 1959)
• Bags & Trane (Atlantic, 1959)
• Vibrations (Atlantic, 1960–61)
• Big Bags (Riverside, 1962)
• Invitation (Riverside, 1962)
• Statements (Impulse!, 1962)
• For Someone I Love (Riverside, 1963)
• Jazz 'n' Samba (Impulse!, 1964)
• In a New Setting (Limelight, 1964)

With John Lewis

• The Modern Jazz Society Presents a Concert of Contemporary Music (Norgran, 1955)
• Afternoon in Paris (Atlantic, 1957) with Sacha Distel
• The John Lewis Piano (Atlantic, 1957)
• The Golden Striker (Atlantic, 1960)
• The Wonderful World of Jazz (Atlantic, 1960)
• Essence (Atlantic, 1962)

With James Moody

• The Blues and Other Colors (Milestone, 1969)

With Joe Newman

• The Happy Cats (Coral, 1957)

With Michel Sardaby

• Night Cap (Sound Hills, 1970)

With Lucky Thompson

• Lucky Strikes (Prestige, 1964)

With Bobby Timmons

• Born to Be Blue! (Riverside, 1963)

With Randy Weston

• Piano á la Mode (Jubilee, 1957)