Chester Monson Brooks Joseph Kerr III was an American jazz pianist.
12 Facts About Brooks Kerr
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Brooks Kerr was perhaps best known for being bandleader of a small group featuring Sonny Greer and Russell Procope and for his knowledge of Duke Ellington's work, which he often performed.
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Brooks Kerr was born premature, and suffered from a degenerative retinal disease called retrolental fibroplasia, which made him blind in one eye and only partially seeing in the other.
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Brooks Kerr learned the piano by assigning colors in his mind for each key.
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When he was 2 years old, Brooks Kerr took lessons from Jane Stevens at Yale University, and attended Dr Milton Senn's Child Study Center.
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From 1954 to 1956, Brooks Kerr took private lessons from Jean Brown.
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Brooks Kerr then attended the Foote School in New Haven.
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From 1961 to 1963, Brooks Kerr worked with Russell Rega in New Haven.
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From 1969 to 1973, Brooks Kerr was a student of Willie "The Lion" Smith.
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Brooks Kerr attended The Juilliard School, as well, up until 1972.
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The band Brooks Kerr led with Greer and Procope frequented Greenwich Village jazz clubs and hotels in the New York City area.
12.
Brooks Kerr participated in several tributary projects devoted to Duke Ellington that featured former members of Ellington's crew, such as Ray Nance and Francis Williams.