Tony Kinsey

Tony Kinsey acquired his earliest musical grounding across the Atlantic in a manner shaped by an itinerant youth. While serving as a merchant seaman on vessels that crossed between continents, the drummer received lessons from Bill West whenever the ship reached New York. In his native Birmingham he had already begun piano studies as a small child and had independently learned drums under the guidance of local musician Tommy Webster.

Kinsey built an extensive career on Britain’s jazz circuit, accompanying such domestic figures as Johnny Dankworth and hosting visiting American artists that included Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, and Sarah Vaughan, the last of whom favored especially demanding tempos. During the 1950s he regularly led his own groups at London’s Flamingo Club and appeared at European jazz festivals in programs devoted to bebop, swing, and jazz poetry.

Between 1950 and 1977 he participated in more than eighty jazz recording sessions, while also demonstrating command of additional idioms as required. Parallel to his performing life, Kinsey cultivated an original voice in chamber composition; one of his string quartets appears on the soundtrack of the short film On the Bridge. He supplied big-band scores, arrangements, and incidental music for no fewer than one hundred commercials. His most recent major undertaking is a full-length musical-theater piece drawn from a novel by George Eliot, though he has not ceased performing on drums.