"As already acclaimed as one of contemporary jazz's finest guitarist, Keys here shows what makes him rise above the crowd: it's a feel for his instrument and his approach to the tunes before him. He works his guitar not only as a guitar, but as a total instrument like, say, a piano, one that can offer various hues and tones without limitations."
- RAPPORT - West Coast Review of Books, Arts, & Entertainment

"With his lean single-note style, veteran jazz guitarist Calvin Keys is a subtle but forceful improviser...Keys Trio has developed into a cohesive unit capable of generating a fierce sense of swing."
- Andrew Gilbert - Special to the Mercury News  

"With Calvin Keys, one realizes the "the big names" of jazz remain indispensable in their transmittal. It's in playing and replaying of these standards that one can extract the "quintessence" which allows this music style to live. His performance, full of reminisces extracted from his guitar are delightful. His words are concise and always quite dynamic and sometimes take the form of an endless spiral."
- Mike Maestracci

THERE IS A wealth of hard swinging jazz guitarists in the Bay Area, but for the past 30 years, no player has offered a more beguiling blend of power and finesse than Calvin Keys. I was reminded of his almost feline grace while listening to his trio, featuring bassist David Williams and drummer David Rokeach, at Anna's Jazz Island in downtown Berkeley on a recent Wednesday night (a regular gig he returns to Wednesday). Playing a set of standards, he turned each familiar piece into an extended adventure. His arrangement of Jobim's "Wave," for instance, transformed the bossa nova chestnut into a simmering, bluesy excursion set to a propulsive walking bass line. "I wanted the 'Killer Joe' effect," Keys said after the set, referring to the 1960 hit by Benny Golson. "Everybody does it as a bossa. I said, let's swing it."

The longtime Oakland resident is hardly a well-kept secret. Earlier this year he released "Vertical Clearance" (Wide Hive Records), a tour de force that's received widespread airplay. The album features a large cast of collaborators, including alto sax great Sonny Fortune, vibraphonist Roger Glenn, organist Doug Carn and drummer Babatunde Lea, but the economics of jazz these days means that Keys usually performs with a trio. That's the context he'll working in Friday when he opens a three-night run at Jazz at Pearl's in North Beach, where he'll be joined by Mark Williams on bass and drummer Lorca Hart, who's continuing the brilliant percussion tradition of his father, Billy Hart.
"He plays just as much drums as his daddy," Keys said. "He brings another level of energy to the table."

At 64, Keys is as busy as ever. He's releasing a new trio CD next month, "Handmade Portrait," featuring Williams and Rokeach, and he's working on a tribute to Horace Silver, "Silver Keys." Whatever context he performs in, Keys is a subtle but forceful improviser who has accompanied jazz greats such as Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, John Handy and Blue Mitchell. He credits his long tenure in Ahmad Jamal's quartet with honing his pianistic approach to the guitar.
"Working with Ahmad, I guess I developed a certain emotional drive," said Keys, who's been a professional musician since he left Omaha, Neb. at 17. "Ahmad's music has that force. I felt it deep inside my bones the first time I heard Ahmad, just like the first time I heard Monk play."
Jamal first hired Keys in 1974 when the guitarist came off the road with Ray Charles and was living in Los Angeles (he settled in Oakland in 1975). Keys spent the next six years touring the world as part of Jamal's band with bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant. He left Jamal in 1980 to freelance, but he's returned to work with the pianist numerous times, and remains part of the Jamal's extended musical family. "Calvin is one of my favorite players," Jamal said in a 2002 interview. "He's been one of my mainstays for years. He has a tremendous warmth and technical facility in his work, and he's very serious about what he does. He's a consummate gentleman, and humanitarian."

During a career spanning a half century, Calvin Keys has become one of the leading lights of the West Coast jazz scene, boasting an eclectic style that encompasses soul, gospel, R&B, funk, bebop, deep blues, and even hip-hop. The Bay Area-based Keys began his career in the ’50s, playing blues and R&B with various artists on the “Chitlin’ circuit” [a string of venues throughout the Eastern and Southern states catering primarily to African-American audiences], but he grew frustrated with the limitations of those genres, and became increasingly fascinated with the jazz stylings of players such as Tal Farlow and Wes Montgomery.
Keys’ rapidly expanding vocabulary inspired him to add chromatic lines and bop phrasing to his pentatonic-based blues, and, during the ’60s, he landed stints with the revered Hammond B-3 organ trios of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, and Groove Holmes—all of whom reveled in Keys’ ability to merge soulful blues with jazz sensibilities.
Keys launched his solo career in 1971 with the release of Shawn Neeq, and then spent the early ’70s touring and recording with Ray Charles, while concurrently pursuing his own work. He also got the opportunity to join pianist Ahmad Jamal’s band, and, later, relocated to San Francisco, where he played with such luminaries as Tony Bennett, Pharaoh Sanders, and Sonny Stitt. Heart surgery sidelined Keys temporarily in 1997, although he never really stopped playing. His latest CD, a collection of standards called A Handmade Portrait [Silverado], showcases his Wes Montgomery-inspired octaves lines and rich chording, his fast and percussive Tal Farlow-esque runs, and his Grant Green-like ability to move seamlessly between blues, ballads, and standards. Throughout all of this variegated work, however, the blues remains the one constant in his playing.

“It’s always back there behind whatever I do,” he says. “I don’t have to be playing pentatonic scales to be bringing the blues out in my playing. When I’m improvising, that feel is just natural. It’s in the way I phrase, and in the emotional quality of the lines I tend to favor.”
Keys’ organic tone is derived from a combination of thumb, fingers, and a triangular Dunlop heavy pick, as well as from a Heritage Golden Eagle Calvin Keys Model hollowbody plugged into a 100-watt Polytone Mini-Brute IV loaded with one 15" Celestion. His strings are D’Addario, gauged .012-.056.
“That’s the only setup I’ll ever need,” he says. “I’ll add a little reverb on the Polytone, and that’s more than enough for me.”

With sideman credits including Ray Charles and Ahmad Jamal, Calvin Keys of the Bay Area makes a strong showing on Vertical Clearance, his second release for the eclectic Wide Hive label. It's an enigmatic mix of old- and new-school sounds, produced by Gregory Howe of the post-fusion collective Variable Unit. The majority of the cuts have multiple composer credits, suggesting a free-flowing, collaborative esthetic. Keys' unadorned soul-jazz guitar glides through an array of sonic environments, with funk, acid-jazz and DJ-culture influences and an extensive roster of players - including saxophonist Sonny Fortune, trombonist Phil Ranelin and drummer Babatunde Lea, to name a few.

"Mrgky" kicks off the session with Latin flavor, but the mood veers toward beat-oriented abstraction with "Spreading Spirit" and "Unresolved Daydream." The only outbreak of swing occurs on "Proceed With Caution '06", one of two Keys-authored cuts. Other highlights include Headnodic's programming on Secaucus S. Rutherford," Roger Glenn's vibes on the title track and Fortune's alto atmospherics on the off-kilter "Seven and Sonny Straight Up." Nothing, however, beats the locked-down groove of "Drunk Monk."

“Jazz is freedom of expression - no boundaries. I play what I feel; people call it whatever they like...” Calvin Keys
Omaha native, guitarist extraordinaire Calvin Keys bursts on the music scene in 2006 with one of the most compelling modern jazz records to date. Its simply titled “Vertical Clearance.” If you dig passionate guitar playing that is raw, down and dirty with twist of classic Grant Green tossed in, then you’ll absolutely adore this record.

Although this is only my second, encounter with perplexing musical repertoire of guitarist Calvin Keys I vividly his second album in recorded in 1973 titled “Proceed With Caution,” on BlackJazz Records. Introduced to jazz by his father at a young age Keys later began playing professionally at 17. Since then, the talented guitarist graduated into a wider scope playing and recorded with notable musicians like Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Ray Charles, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDufff, Groove Holmes and was mentored by bassist Gerald Holts.

On the opening track, Mr. Keys is playing with a profound measure of emergency on the "Afro Latin" inspired “Mrkgy.” As expected, he delivers the goods with raw and energized playing accented by tight horns mixed in for good measure is certainly well worth the price of admission.

Mr. Keys effectively changes directions on the next track with the atmospheric “Spreading the Spirit.” Calvin’s tonality without question is artistically brilliant, he soars with unmatched reverie, and he undoubtedly came to play on this project.

The next few selections on “Vertical Clearance” by Keys and company will take you on a marvelous journey that want be forgotten anytime soon ... at least by me. Memorable, yes this session is challenging, loose, funky, and lyrically refreshing without being overproduced or understated.

After traveling through this grueling expedition of timeless music by guitarist, Calvin Keys it's foreseeable the next objective for me will be obtaining as many of his early recordings as possible. Oh yea, he’s that good! In addition, for the record, song for song the potency of the music on this album symbolizes the lyrical swagger one expects from artist of his magnitude. If you truly love music, then head to the nearess record store and pick up “Vertical Clearance” by Calvin Keys ... his music will take you in flight to a new dimension in modern jazz.

Visit, Calvin Keys web space: widehive.com/calvin_keys

Listen & Purchase: amazon.com

Consider the groove.  Think of the kind of music that gets a group of listeners to nod/tap/shake their collective heads/feet/booties.  Think of this music as a spiritual communion, a sharing with those making the sound and those hearing it.  Think of the essence of this music: a steady and solid rhythmic base, leaving plenty of room for the soloist or singer to tell a story.  Then stop thinking and focus on wanting to dance yourself silly while listening to this music.
“Soul Food” in the May 17-23 edition of Listen & Be Heard contained a quote from Vallejo drummer Babatunde Lea. “I’m not a religious man, but I do believe in spirit, that it intervenes in our lives in mysterious ways.” These words could be used to describe Vertical Clearance, the recent CD by Calvin Keys on Wide Hive Records.

Lea, in fact, is one of four drummers who contributes to the music on this CD, along with Ron E. Beck, Darrell Green, and Thomas McCree.  A total of seventeen musicians join Keys to create eleven interventions of sound and rhythm. Long-time followers of jazz will recognize the name Sonny Fortune, whose creative work with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones and many others is part of the ongoing history of American music.  Lea and Fortune are part of an outstanding group of musicians on this CD. There are no weak moments in any of these songs.

The only information from the CD booklet is personnel, song titles and composers; it contains no roadmap for who played where on what.  A good idea, actually: it removes the option of reading about the music and forces the listener to interact with it.  Some of the sources are easy to identify, Doug Carn’s organ, Kat Ouano’s Rhodes piano, Roger Glenn’s vibes, probably Fortune on “Seven & Sonny Straight Up,” but none more obvious than Keys on guitar.  His solo work alone is reason enough to pick up this recording and play it again and again.  His chromatic and creative explorations never sound forced or pedantic.  His rhythm guitar work is just as impressive, always an equal part of the rhythm section, whether playing quick choppy chords like punctuation or letting the strings sustain and ring elliptically.

But don’t take my word for it.  Get a copy of this CD and let it intervene in your life.  It is a tribute to the musicians and the group leader that a collection of music can remain consistently excellent and interesting.  Take a quick mental inventory of your music collection and pick five recent recordings that still sound good from the first note to the last. Difficult?  Sure.  This one, which I’ve played every day since bringing it home, easily made my list.

And why?  I think the reason goes back to Babatunde Lea’s quote.  This music is from someone’s spirit and, in that most mysterious of ways, connects with our own.  Listen, the music says, we are here, let us enjoy our all-too-short stay.  It is no accident that one of the songs is titled “Spreading Spirit.”  This CD does so in huge quantities.  And you can dance to it. For ordering and additional information, visit www.widehive.com.

You can hear Calvin live at Anna’s Jazz Island in Berkeley on June 7 & 21.  For more information check our online calendars.

Calvin Keys calls an evening’s performance a love affair with his music and his audience – cause that’s what it is. This man who can list such sterling greats as Ray Charles, Ahmad Jamal, Carmen McCrea, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Gloria Lynn, M.C. Hammer, Sonny Stitt, Tony Bennett and Luther Vandross as just a few of the folks he has performed and/or recorded with, is so absolutely satisfied with "what the Creator chose for him to do" that he can’t but help spread that satisfaction and joy around as he calmly dazzles with his guitar. The Calvin Keys Trio played Saturday night at Pacifica’s Sanchez Concert Hall and it was the first presentation in Pacifica Performances 2004 Virtuoso Fingerstyle Guitar Series. Featuring Keys on guitar and eloquence, Matt Montgomery on standup bass and David Rockeach on drums, Keys was as generous with his band members as he was with his audience. He told his audience that newest trio member, bassist Montgomery, was "a force to be reckoned with," and that drummer Rokeach "provided the Trio’s foundation." Then he sincerely thanked his audience, "1,000 times for letting him come share this love." Then Mr. Keys played, and from note one, it was a love affair cool with this gentleman guitarist.

Opening with a Chick Corea number, Keys offered soft chords and mixed-in-the-batter string strut while brush drums and bop bass forbid all but the sweet glow of summer from filling up the room. Strolling along the frets, kicking out augmented and diminished chords with just the right sigh; Keys gave us Wes Montgomery’s "West Coast Blues." Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prevert and Johnny Mercer wrote the classic "Autumn Leaves" and when Keys played it, each note whispered of finger-snapped trimmings of red and gold. Earlier today, Keys was playing at the Comcast/San Jose Jazz Festival with among others pianist Elmer Gibson. One of the songs they played was Gibson’s "Innocence" and Keys put that next on the menu. Kind of a nice and easy wind island sunset climbed up and down the Keys keyboard as he confidently connected melody line with counterpoint. Though his fingers sail through acrobatics of master held guitar, Keys whole image in sound and sight is beautiful relaxation. The Trio finished out the set with a cayenne flavored bliss of bell-chimed guitar, salubrious kettle drums and switchback bass that nearly whipped the roof off the hothouse.

There’s a story behind the guitar Keys is current playing. Set in the hue of the native Nebraskan’s golden wheat, the Calvin Keys Golden Eagle model guitar was built and designed for Keys by Jazz Heritage Guitars. This places Keys in a select guitar series which also includes: Johnny Smith, Henry Johnson and Roy Clark. Keys received this guitar on a memorable occasion. On September 11, 1997, he had quadruple heart by-pass surgery and when he woke at 4 a.m. the nurse told him she had nothing but good news. His operation was a success and his guitar was delivered.

Keys has been playing guitar for 47 years. His lineless face appears almost ageless; it’s that look of living what you’re supposed to be doing. He’s got a lot of stories. Besides playing with Ray Charles, he and Charles were pals. They used to play dice and cards and chess, and Charles beat him every time. Keys couldn’t make it to Ray’s funeral because he was playing at a fundraiser for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. But that was no problem, for there were no words left unsaid between he and his friend.

Keys made it clear he liked playing at Pacifica’s Sanchez Concert Hall. He liked the warmth of its room, its acoustics and its style and he appreciated the obvious support of its crowd. He’s getting ready to tour internationally, Japan being first on his list, and he just feels "blessed" to do this thing he loves. "Speak Low" opened up his second set with narrative guitar and silk jump bass. The second tune "Invitation" featured Dave Rokeach on tone colored tumblers and Keys on rain on the roof, rhythm guitar. The next song "Spring Can Really Hang You Up" was a lullaby string and traps romp through playground puddles and first morning wishes. The Trio’s version of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and Johnny Mercer’s "Satin Doll" flowed like java on a date with a percolator and the "Miles Davis Theme Song" closed out the set with a honeymoon bass, guitar and drums that kept the motion on sway.

Calvin Keys is listed in the Leonard Feather Encyclopedia of Jazz as "legendary guitarist." For those lucky enough to pull up a seat at his Sanchez Concert Hall concert, the "Legend" was all real love and knowledge, joy-hooked on the magic of six champion strings. Four stars.

For more information on Mr. Keys type into calvinkeys.com. Also to keep yourself updated on the place where hip is happening, type into the Sanchez Concert Hall’s website at pacificaperformances.org.

Calvin Keys plays a double set recorded live from the Maybeck recital Hall in Berkeley, California which was later broadcast on KJAZ in Alameda as part of their ‘See’s Sunday Night’ series hosted by Bud Spangler. Once again it is released on the LifeForceJazz Record label, the home of great mainstream jazz music headed by Dawan Muhammad. Joining Calvin on stage is Tim Hauf on bass and Gaylord Birch on drums.

Calvin has been an influential guitarist for many years playing with such notables as Jimmy Smith, Carmen McCrae, Pharaoh Saunders, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Ahmad Jamal and Jack McDuff to namedrop just a little and yet as one US jazz DJ writes ‘Calvin is one of jazz’s best kept secrets’.

This live set could change all that and he chooses a set of standards for his live audience including Miles’ ‘The Theme’ and the incomparable ‘All Blues’. He gives us a dazzling display on Kenny Burrell’s ‘Chitlins Con Carne’ and one of the best renditions of ‘Invitations’ made popular by vocalist Carmen Lundy on her ‘Stolen Moments’ set, indeed at sixteen and a half minutes long it would have filled a vinyl side on its own many years ago. His chord inversions on this track are typical of the album’s menu and tight rhythm trio add those measured statements with Tim Hauf’s bass walking a journey of its own to the elegant brush strokes of Gaylord Birch, truly a memorable track.

For a guitar trio to function, especially live, I think the role of the guitar has not only to be a melody instrument but also to provide substance to the tracks with resplendent chords engraved into the track and intertwined in such a way that the track has variety and doesn’t lose its dynamic shape,. This is perfectly demonstrated by Calvin on Randy Weston’s ‘Hi Fly’ with a chorus of lead and one of chord runs, which captivate the listener.

I first started listening (and playing guitar) in 1962 and a few years later I heard ‘Chitlins Con Carne’ on a Jimmy Smith album featuring Kenny Burrell and it brings back many happy memories to hear Calvin perform it in a similar ilk to the original, full of lightening riffs and chord inversions.

‘Secret Love’ was a hit song in the sixties for British girl Kathy Kirby and Calvin lets it fly in this uptempo version in a ten minute extravaganza.

The ballad ‘I Remember Clifford’ by Benny Golson is a late night trip in the Wes Montgomery/Kenny Burrell/Mundell Lowe style with Keys exploring the instrument’s harmonics and providing a reverent rendition of this classic.

His covers of Miles’ ‘The Theme’ and ‘All Blues’ are augmented by some clever interplay with the bass.

I am particularly a fan of ‘Bus Scene’ by Bernard Taylor as it is a Latin Bossa and this version is the killer cut out an amazing album of guitar virtuoso, the emphasis on some of the key notes by Keys highlights his harmonic and structural invention.

The classics ‘Stella By Starlight’ and ‘My Funny Valentine’ are sure to be crowd pleasers on an album which has careful attention to detail and a ‘must have’ for all ‘would-be’ jazz guitarists. Here is a role model and the criteria whereby the standards are set.

At times there’s something ethereal about the absorbing guitar work of virtuoso Calvin Keys and yet even on extended listenings of both the CDs in this ‘twin-set’ he never lost my attention. That’s rare for any jazz artist but there again this man and his giant talent are rare.

He’s been on the scene for many years and featured with legends like Earl Hines, Ray Charles, Ahmad Jamal and Pharoah Sanders and yet he prefers to live quietly in Oakland, California where in addition to appearing at major festivals he takes recording dates as featured guitarist and teaches at schools, colleges and music camps.

What makes this man different is that he’s not solely a single string improviser but is just as happy exploring the chords of both his own and standard compositions with what – if he were a pianist we’d call "block chords". His fluency in both disciplines is staggering and his flights of imagination seem to have no end. As I said he’s rare and his work brings to mind other giants with similarly endless flows of delightful original ideas like Paul Gonsalvez. The pioneer Sidney Bichet, Django Reinhardt (of course!) and Sonny Rollins.

These are delightful tracks and if your worried about trying someone new think Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Bucky Pizzarelli, Barney Kessel, and then some. Yes, I think this guy is listenable, more inventive, has more variety, more ideas, more interesting invention, In fact, it’s time Pete King booked him for Ronnie Scott’s. When he does I’ll be there…

Calvin Keys Has played many styles of music including Gospel, Blues, Pop, Country and even more modern Hip Hop but his preferred flavor is jazz and together with his bassist Tim Hauf and drummer Bob Braye offer a delightful album in the early George Benson, Kenny Burrelll, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis vein.

This is a live recording performed at the Big Basin Academy of Art and Music in Saratoga, California which created by Michael Briseno ably assisted by Dawan Muhammad who established this venue where student and teachers alike could come and blend in what is described as, ‘a serene and natural environment’.

Calvin has chosen some interesting material for the album with Mccoy Tyner’s ‘Blues On The Corner’ an almost eleven minute extravaganza synonymous with a live performance and has a very Kenny Burrel feel to it. Like Burrell, Calvin has also played with organ maestro Jimmy Smith.

His version of Antonio Carlos Jobim ‘Once I Loved’ is magnificent with a solo guitar intro meandering to a mid tempo rendition of this bossa classic with intricate improvised chord structures and a wonderful bass solo from Tim Hauf.

Calvin tackles Miles’ ‘The Theme’ in fine style with a series of lightning fast riffs in the Wes Montgomery or Mundell Lowe mould and his interpretation of Freddie Hubbard’s signature tune ‘Little Sunflower’ which highlights some magical counterpoint between guitar and bass reminiscent of the arrangement with Hubbard and Al Jarreau on vocal duties.

Calvin has penned two tracks o the set, the opening ‘Abdullah’ which is a mid tempo ‘scene setter’ with progressive chord patterns and the all Too sFort beautiful ballad, ‘Marella’ which is in the style of Benson’s cover of the Lennon and McCartney classic ‘Here, There and Everywhere’.

A thirteen minute version of Ann Ronnell’s classic ‘Willow Weep For Me’ completes the selections recorded over two memorable nights by one of the county’s finest jazz guitarists. Comparable with those early Benson albums, Bad Benson, White Rabbit and Cookbook of the late 60s / early 70s.

I believe that a ‘live’ guitar trio has to work so much harder than most line-ups and it takes an extremely talented and competent guitarist to retain the interest of the listener whilst trying to combine the melody with chord structure and interplay with the rhythm section. The choice material is paramount and I think Calvin Keys talent has provided another ‘classic guitar’ album which will delight purists and enhance his own reputation.

When Calvin Keys’ Detours Into Unconscious Rhythms was released on SF-based Wide Hive records in 2000, it brought the jangle riffing of jazz-funk guitar to the attention of a generation more familiar with Wesley Snipes than Wes Montgomery. The album featured some of the Bay Area’s best young musical talent (including organist Kat Ouano, vocalist Scheherazade Stone, flutist Tim Hyland, and turntablist DJ Zeph) in addition to veterans like keyboardist Chester Thompson (Santana), drummer Ron E. Beck (Tower of Power), and vibraphonist Roger Glenn (Donald Byrd). Detours was the first release in seven years for Keys, a semilegendary figure on the circuit known for his work oin the Black Jazz label and for recording and touring with Ahmad Jamal and Ray Charles.

"I write from experience," Keys explains. He notes that Shanique, his first album for Black Jazz, was named after his then-newborn niece. "I tried to capture the beauty of bringing a brand-new baby into the household. Now if that ain’t love and beauty, what is?"

According to Keys, "An unconscious rhythm is that song that you hear on the radio that you like, but you don’t know what it is. And you go through the house humming it for the next couple of days or a week until you hear it again and go, ‘Oh, that’s that song.’ It’s been embedded into your subconscious." As for the "detours" part, he adds, "We all have to take detours in our lives to get to the one."

Keys knows a thing or two about detours, having played jazz, or what he calls "American classical music," for 45 of his 60 years. He describes jazz as "one of the most powerful forces on the planet." Although he now lives in Oakland, Keys grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He learned his craft by sitting in with older musicians, a favor he says he wants to return. Given a new lease on life after a successful quadruple-bypass operation five years ago, Keys has a renewed sense of purpose. "What I’m trying to do here is to take the experience and the knowledge that I’ve obtained through the years and pass it on to the younger generation," he says.

For the past year and a half, Keys and his band, the Renegade Sidemen, have been holding down a regular Monday night slot at Anna’s, the Berkeley "jazz bistro" with an old-timey, speakeasy feel (1801 University Avenue; 510-849-ANNA). It’s a toss-up as to which is sweeter – Anna’s always delicious desserts, or the sound of Keys playing the soul out of his guitar. In any event, to be able to hear a musician of Keys’ stature in an intimate setting for a minimal cover ($4) is just another reason to appreciate Berkeley.

A recent Monday night found Keys and friends traversing blues and jazz territory with equal finesse. At times, his fluid fingerpicking threatened to free itself completely from its rhythmic moorings and escape the building into the night sky. Though it’s apparent that he’s a master of the six-string, Keys humbly downplays his abilities, "I’m just another brother out here trying to share the love that I’ve learned to express through my music," he says." That’s where I’m at right now. I guess I have always been there, but I’ve never been able to express it like I’m able to now."

With his lean single-note style, veteran jazz guitarist Calvin Keys is a subtle but forceful improviser. His style will be on display this weekend when his trio, featuring bassist David McKinney and drummer David Rokeach, performs as part of the Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Second Sunday series at Stanford University Campbell Recital Hall.
Keys’ trio has developed into a cohesive unit capable of generating a fierce sense of swing. He credits his long tenure in Ahmad Jamal’s quartet with honing his pianistic approach to the guitar.

"Working with Ahmad, I guess I developed a certain emotional drive," Keys says. "Ahamd is a master of time. I would characterize it using the old Caucasian way of describing this music, jungle music. It has that force. I felt it deep inside my bones the first time I heard Ahmad." It was "just like the first time I heard Monk play. It was that powerful, or I wouldn’t have bothered with it."

Jamal first hired Keys in 1974, when the guitarist came off the road with Ray Charles and was living in Los Angeles (he settled in Oakland in 1975). Keys spent the next six years touring the world as part of Jamal’s quartet with bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant. He left Jamal in 1980 to freelance, but he has returned to work with the pianist many times.

"Calvin is one of my favorite players," says Jamal. "He’s been one my mainstays for years. He has a tremendous warmth and technical facility in his work, and he’s very serious about what he does. He’s a consummate gentleman and humanitarian."

Key, born and raised in Omaha, Neb., started teaching himself guitar as a teenager, when he would sneak over and play his uncle Ivory’s Gibson, even though he’d been warned away from the instrument with the threat of a whipping. When his uncle caught him one day, he was so impressed that the youngster had learned some chords by watching him play Delta blues that he gave his nephew his prized instrument.

"For the next six months I was up all night with that guitar," Keys says.

He landed his first paying gig at 17, working a sioux City, Iowa joint called Po’ Boys Club 54 with an R&B band called Doctor Spider and his Rock and Roll Web. Keys recalls the music scene around Omaha as a talent-laden environment that was constantly enriched by traveling players. In one memorable encounter the blues singer and alto saxophonist Eddie Cleanhead Vinson called him out at a jam session and taught him the chords to the Miles Davis tune "Four". When Keys returned the next week ready to show off the solo he had developed on the chord changes of "Four", Vinson called a different Davis piece, "Tune Up".

"Cleanhead really inspired me to start doing some other kinds of research," Keys says.

The guitarist spent most of the ‘60s on the road playing with various organ combos, including brief stints with Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff and longer runs with Jackie Ivory, Jackie Davis and Frank Edwards, who provided Keys with a strong jazz history foundation.

"Frank turned me on to Duke Ellington and Count Bassie and the real music," Keys says. "He knew all the tunes. After I cut Frank loose, I was after something else, but I wasn’t sure what. But I knew I wanted to get my own band and do my own thing."

Since coming off the road with Jamal, Keys has led various groups of his own and recorded a number of albums for local labels such as Black Jazz and Life Force. His latest release is the scorching R&B-oriented session "Detours Into Unconscious Rythms" on Wide Hive Records. Although a quadruple heart bypass operation in 1997 slowed him down for a minute, he has come back strong, playing, recording and teaching with gusto.

"I just turned 60, and I feel like I’m 25, and I’m enjoying every breath I take," Keys says. "I’m having so much fun. If I left out of here today, I have no regrets. But the next 10 years are going to be the most beautiful 10 years of my life."

Calvin Keys

Where: Campbell Recital Hall, Stanford University
When: 7:30pm Sunday
Tickets: $20
Call: (650) 725-2787

When Bruce Forman was creating the JazzMasters Workshop, the non-profit organization that provides free weekly jazz guitar clinics to any young musician who shows up at one of the four sites around the Bay Area, he knows the perfect candidate to recruit as a teacher.

Forman turned to Calvin Keys, the same consummate musician who had serves as his mentor some 25 years before, when he was a budding young guitarist eager to soak up any and all jazz experience possible.

"Calvin let me sit in and was very encouraging," Forman says. "I even subbed for him when I was in high school. So having him to agree to do the workshop was great. There’s a continuity of the mentoring cycle. As much as he’s technically proficient and versed in the tradition, Calvin is a natural. His playing is so deep in the pocket and comes off so elegant and effortless. I know how hard it is to de what he’s doing."

The JazzMasters program recently marked its milestone 250th free clinic (adults are also welcome for a $20 fee). Since the organization was founded in January 2001, Keys has taught more workshops than any other guitarist except Forman. For Keys, the program offers the opportunity to pass on the knowledge he gleaned during his years playing the chitlin’ circuit with bluesy organ combos, touring with Ray Charles, serving as musical director for Earl "Fatha" Hines and collaborating with Ahmad Jamal.

Keys conducts his next round of workshops March 18 at the Carmel Youth Center, March 19 in Mountain View at the Guitar Activity Center, March 20 at Enrico’s in San Francisco’s North Beach, and March 21 at the Alice Arts Center in Oakland. See www.jazzmastersworkshop.org for information on workshop dates and locations.

"There’s a whole new crop coming up, and they’re going to develop some different things; you watch," says Keys, 60.

"There’s a certain torch being passed around. That torch was passed to me at some point in my life, and I’m trying to keep it burning by handing it on to some of the youngsters."