1. Self-taught on drums, Kay began performing in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s.
11 Facts About Connie Kay
1. 2.
Connie Kay's drumming is recorded in The Hunt, the recording of a famous Los Angeles jam session featuring the dueling tenors of Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray on July 6,1947.
3.
Connie Kay recorded with Lester Young's quintet from 1949 to 1955 and with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis.
4.
Connie Kay joined the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1955, replacing original drummer Kenny Clarke.
5.
Connie Kay remained through the group's dissolution in 1974 and occasional reunions into the 1990s.
6.
Connie Kay played drums on several of Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison's albums: Astral Weeks, one song on Saint Dominic's Preview, and four songs on Tupelo Honey.
7.
Connie Kay was known for incorporating percussion instruments alongside his drum kit, such as timpani, small cymbals, triangle, bell tree, and darbukas, the latter referred to as "exotic-looking" drums in a 2006 article.
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Dexter Gordon Wardell Gray Coleman Hawkins Charlie Parker Miles Davis Stan Getz Kenny Clarke 8.
In 1989, Connie Kay received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.
9.
Connie Kay had a stroke in 1992, but recovered enough to resume performing.
10.
Connie Kay died of cardiac arrest in Manhattan in 1994 at the age of 67.
11.
Connie Kay played with Benny Goodman' Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall 40th.