The great Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler died in London last month at the age of 84. Now that so many great post war jazz musicians are reaching an advanced age it's inevitable that each year will bring more than a few sad events such as this.

With a major composer and player and someone as universally well regarded as Kenny Wheeler it's an especially great loss. In a blindfold test he is one of the few modern stylists on trumpet and flugelhorn you could identify with the first few notes such was the originality of his sound.

As a composer and arranger of great melodies for small groups big band he had no modern equal really and could be spoken of in the same breath as Gil Evans or the Miles Davis circa the 'Kind Of Blue' group.

Anyone looking for a similarly refined and rarified examples of modern jazz at its most approachable should listen to some of his ECM label albums such as 'Deer Wan' , 'Gnu High', 'The Widow in The Window' and 'Music For Large And Small Ensembles'.


Alan