Legendary Jazz Guitarist Recalls His Omaha Roots

CaLvin Keys’ JOuRney inCLudes CiT y HOusinG PROJeCT s, inTeRnaTiOnaL sTaRdOm

The path that took guitarist Calvin Keys from the housing projects near 30th and Lake to international jazz superstar was rarely a straight one. The roads leading to greatness seldom are.

Keys, who relocated to California’s Bay Area in the 1970s, recalls a vibrant Omaha music community and a town that served as a frequent rest stop for players on the “Chitlin’ Circuit.” Keys would go on to an almost Forrest Gump-ian career, playing and recording with the likes of Ray Charles, Ahmad Jamal, Bobby Hutcherson, Pharoah Sanders, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Taj Mahal, Tony Bennett and a myriad of others.

“The music scene back then was pretty advantageous for me,” Keys said of Omaha in the ’50s and ’60s. “There was a lot of music going on. My uncle Ivory played guitar. My uncle would come home and play Lightning Hopkins, you know, the blues, stuff like that. When I was around 12 years old, we moved into those projects on 30th and Lake. So I’d see my uncle go into the basement and play. He told me, ‘If I ever catch you with this guitar, I’m gonna put my foot where it don’t belong.’

“So naturally I picked it up,” Keys said. “I started getting these different sounds from watching him. I could learn just from listening. Well, he came in one night and he said, ‘Don’t freak out, Mama told me you’ve been playing. Show me what you’re doing.’ So I showed him, and he asked where I learned to do that, and I told him from watching you. He gave me that guitar a little later. It was a Little G with a Sears-Roebuck amp. Man, I’d play all day and night. The police were knocking on the door.”

Keys was born in Omaha in 1943, his father being Otis Keys, who some call “the greatest natural drummer” to come from Nebraska. Otis made his mark playing with Preston Love and others on the Midwest circuit. The elder Key’s friends and fans would become a valuable resource for the budding guitar virtuoso.

“There were a lot of places to hear music,” the 81-yearold Keys said during a recent phone conversation from his home in Oakland, California.

“The Carnation Ballroom on North 24th, Jimmy Jewel’s Dream Room. I’d sneak in from the fire escape. I saw all the big acts, Little Richard and James Brown, Wilson Pickett. The security guy that watched that fire escape knew my father, so he’d let me sit there.

“There was a place called the First and Last Chance down in South Omaha. I had started a band called Doctor Spider and The Rock & Roll Webs. We’d play down there. But back on the North Side they had Allen’s Showcase

House on 24th Street,” Keys said. “That’s where the big boys played. That’s where I was trying to get to, you know. During one jam session we had Jack McDuff, George Benson and Red Holloway all sitting in. They were on their way out to California. For some reason they took a liking to me.”

Around the age of 15, after gigging locally with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and others, Keys was offered the opportunity to move to Kansas City and play full time with Omaha’s Preston Love, who was keeping busy with The Count Basie Orchestra.

“My turn came with Preston Love,” Keys said. “My dad had played drums for him so there was a connection. Now, my mom didn’t want me playing music, she thought it was all gamblers and junkies. But I traveled with Preston all over the Midwest. So, when I got asked to play, I said, ‘I have to ask my Mom.’ She said, ‘No, he’s still in school.’ But I had enough credits down at Tech High so I said, ‘You and I always been tight, so I’m going to tell you, if I have to sneak out the back door after you go to sleep I will.’ Eventually she said, ‘OK. I don’t want you to be a musician but if you’re going to be one anyway, be careful. You’ll always get what you want.’

“She said that a lot. ‘Be careful. You’ll always get what you want.’ Had to get older before I understood what she meant, but she was right. You will.”

Keys made a name for himself as a desired guitarist for organ trios, playing with a host of top artists, including Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff and the legendary Jimmy Smith. Along with P-Funk and James Brown, Smith’s sureshot brand of organ funk remains among the most sampled music in hip hop.

“Man, I worked with every organ player I could. After playing with Jimmy [Smith], I got tired of working with the organ. I really wanted to work with a piano player. About this time, I got a call from Ray Charles, and I ended up working with him for 15 years, not steady, just off and on when he needed a guitar player. At one point Ahmad Jamal came through Denver while I was playing out there, and so I asked him if I could sit in. He said, ‘No, young man, I have a closed set.’ But 10 years later I got a call from Ahmad needing a guitar player. I worked with Ahmad for 15 years, did seven albums with him.”

During this fruitful period working with Jamal, Keys tells the story of a young Miles Davis coming to catch their set. As was customary in jazz circles, Davis approached Jamal after the set and asked his permission to speak with Calvin about playing together. An unimpressed Keys couldn’t understand why anyone would think he would leave Jamal, though he does acknowledge that had he known the acclaim Miles would achieve he may have done it just for his resume.

Keys relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. “I went to LA with the purpose of joining up with a record company,” he said. “When I started with Black Jazz Records, I had to get a band together. I had been playing with The Red Holloway Quartet and we started coheadlining those gigs, and then I was getting my own gigs. I was becoming a leader. That’s what it was all about. And it has been a beautiful experience for me.”

Keys released two albums on Black Jazz: “Shawn-Neeq” in 1971 and the ferocious follow-up “Proceed with Caution!” in ’74. Both records find Keys young and hungry. Both albums have recently been reissued and have found purchase with younger ears 50 years later, placing Keys firmly in the spotlight for another generation.

Soul-jazz-funk is Keys’ sweet spot. His playing is fluid and comes off as effortless, accenting all the right places and times. Fingers flying, dancing up and down the fretboard, Keys on a full roar can almost sound unhinged, notes bursting forth recklessly. But the way he brings it all back time and time again shows he knows the road well enough to take the turns at that speed.

Local drumming legend Curly Martin and Keys crossed paths many times throughout. Martin’s son Terrace is a successful musician, rapper and producer, best known as a producer on albums by Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog and Stevie Wonder, among others. Terrace is also Keys’ godson, a testament to the bond between Keys and Martin.

“They used to tell me,” Keys said, “the only time Terrace would be quiet as a kid was when you’d play that guitar. That’s my godson. After he won those five Grammys with that one boy [Lamar], He said, ‘Calvin, I want to do a record with you. People say you’re one of the OGs and all these young cats want to play with you.’ So, we just finished recording an album down there. That’ll be out before too long.”

When it comes to Keys, the tale can’t be told without mentioning guitar wizard Pat Metheny, who penned the epic “Calvin’s Keys” as a tribute to his childhood hero. Metheney and his father would drive around the Mid- west to catch Calvin performing, the young legend-to-be in awe of Key’s playing. “He wrote that beautiful song for me,” Keys said fondly. “But damn, I’m still trying to figure out that bridge.”

Asteroid City timeless July 8 7:30 PM

June 10 7:30 PM August enjoli &

12 7:30 PM

INDEPENDENT FILMS

FOREIGN FILMS

REPERTORY NEW RELEASES

FAMILY SERIES ...AND MORE!

TRAILERS, SHOWTIMES & TICKETS FILMSTREAMS.ORG

June Special Events

Dir. Simon McBurney

Jun 3, 11:55 AM & Jun 7, 6 PM Ruth Sokolof

Arrival

Post-Screening Discussion

Dir. Denis Villeneuve

Jun 6, 6 PM Ruth Sokolof