Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kenny Baldock, was born on April 5, 1932 in the affluent district of Chiswick in London, England. Having studied both piano and bass, he continued on the instruments at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. By the early ’60s he began showing up on jazz bandstands as a bassist in the company of players such as Peter King and the John Dankworth Orchestra, with whom he continued to be associated into the mid Seventies.

In 1972 he joined pianist Oscar Peterson at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and his performance opened opportunities to collaborate with Freddy Randall’s all-star caravan, and many more engagements with Peterson.

Summer in Montreux presented recording circumstances with guitarist Barney Kessel and  the following year Baldock was leading own band projects featuring some of Britain’s heavy hitters. He worked in the Ronnie Scott Quartet that led to backup stints at Scott’s club behind many visiting American jazz performers.

By the early 1980s, Kenny seemed most interested in intimacy and stuck to a small group, often using electric guitarists as sidemen. Throughout his career he performed with among others, the Bobby Wellins Quartet, Freddy Randall~DAve Shepherd Jazz All Stars, Gordon Beck + Two, and the Laurie Holloway Quartet.

Active as an educator, bassist Kenny Baldock, whose composition Kosen Rufu garnered him an Arts Council award in 1983, transitioned from cancer on March 22, 2010.

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