Duncan Kinnell - Master Musician

In 1987 at the age of 40, Duncan Kinnell sold his house in London, boarded his yacht and set sail for the Algarve to settle in Albufeira.

As he says “Success breeds success” but he had concluded that he had become too successful to be able to balance family life with work. Having reached the top of the music profession he was now having to juggle his time between family and a constant series of recording sessions for major pop artists, films and jingles coupled with extensive touring with many of the world’s top entertainers. His family life had become near non-existent so the decision was made to make a complete break and to explore pastures new in the Algarve.

Born in London in 1947, he says it was inevitable his career would be in music. “My father was a professional musician. He was primarily a violinist but because he had served in the military he had to learn other instruments and was very accomplished on clarinet and saxophone.”

His first instrument was the trumpet. “ I wasn’t very good but I owe a huge amount to my trumpet teacher as he taught me all about harmony and music theory which was a massive help as I progressed to playing the drums, percussion and what became my real specialities - Latin American percussion and vibraphone.”

Duncan's precocious talent was recognised and from the age of 16 he was out several nights a week playing in bands. By that time he had gained a huge interest in Latin American music. “I would quite often lock myself away in my room - sometimes for 8 hours - discovering and listening to Latin bands who really inspired me to learn as much as I could. Again I have my trumpet teacher to thank as he gave me the skills to analyse and transcribe the percussion parts and jazz solos from recordings and my skillset improved dramatically as a result.”

While most professional players would attend one of the established music colleges before embarking on their careers, Duncan instead opted to have private lessons from some of the top professional musicians of the day. The combination of tuition with lots of practice saw him reaching an incredibly high standard at an early age.

“Practice was never a chore. I just loved it and so the reward for all the hard work was that from my teens onwards I was always busy.”

When Duncan was 17 he found himself playing at a very “ upmarket” venue - the Washington Hotel and Country Club - and it was there he met France, his wife. The aptly named France, who is French, was working as an au pair at the hotel. They have been together ever since and have a son and a daughter. Their son has followed in his father’s footsteps and is a very successful pianist, living and working in Melbourne, Australia. “As my career started to take off, France had to look after nearly all of the family matters.” which stands out in turning his career around he knew he had made it when he was booked to tour with The Three Degrees. He was 27.

By that time he had gradually progressed from playing in bands to an increasing amount of session work and also West End Shows - Evita, Hair, and Joseph. He was also on the books of Music Activity Management which was run by Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine.

“I vividly remember getting the call from the agency inviting me to tour with The Three Degrees for three months. I had already got a lot of recording session work in my diary but they said don’t worry we will arrange for a deputy and so there I was on tour with one of the biggest acts in the business and being extremely well paid for it. My abilities as a musician hadn’t changed but people looked at what sort of work you were doing and so this tour saw me suddenly in demand for other similar work.”

After that, the tours kept coming in. The impressive list of major artists with whom he performed reads like a Who's Who. Over a period of six years he toured, off and on, with The Three Degrees, Diana Ross (1976), with Sammy Davis Jnr ( 1976 - 79 ), and Mary Wilson and The Supremes. “I was asked to play for Frank Sinatra but had to decline as I was already contracted to tour with Charles Aznavour.” Other artists include Engelbert Humperdink, Marvin Gaye, Elkie Brooks, Gilbert O’Sullivan and for shorter spells Cliff Richard, Gene Pitney and Anthony Newley at the London Palladium.

Making the move to the Algarve was not without its complications as their daughter was 13 at the time but they found a great school and their daughter is fluent in three languages as a result. “We’ve never regretted making the move and being able to see the family nearly every day.”

Jade 5 piece

Once they had settled into their first house in Albufeira they decided to go into town to explore the music scene. The very first restaurant they went into had live music and to Duncan’s surprise one of the Band members said, “Are you, Duncan Kinnell?” The band was needing a drummer so immediately Duncan was playing again. The fivepiece band was called Rumours. “ We all sang so I was able to arrange 5-part harmonies for the group. It was really most enjoyable.”

Duncan then progressed to devising his own one-man shows playing vibraphone, bongos and congas with specially made backing tracks. He also played “beautiful grand pianos”, in some of the big 4/5 star hotels in the area.

During that time he had started the Jade Quintet with Matt Lester on horns. "It was a lovely band," he recalls. He had also started a recording studio in his home where he produced albums, jingles and bespoke backing tracks for a substantial number of clients. Being such an accomplished Jazz player saw him featuring at the Jazz Festivals in Lagar de Mesquito, Vilamoura Jazz Club, Albufeira, Loulé, Lisbon and Oporto with The Duncan Kinnell/ Ze Eduardo Quartet, the Good Vibes Quartet and his own quartet. So, having made the difficult decision to make the move to the Algarve his diary filled up almost immediately.

“The combination of great Portuguese musicians and those, like myself from the UK or farther afield, means there’s a great pool of musical talent here in the Algarve. I still get a real buzz when I go out to do a gig because I know I’ll be playing with some really talented musicians many of whom are great friends.”

Duncan with Sammy Davis Jnr.

Atop the mantelpiece of their villa in Albufeira sits a picture of Duncan with Sammy Davis Jnr - a reminder of those heady days before the move to the Algarve. Duncan still has his yacht which he keeps near Lagos and he still gets out to perform now and again. “The music business has been very good to me and I have many fond memories of those early days - great times, great colleagues and great music - making but we have never regretted leaving that incredibly busy life behind.”

“I’m so lucky to have had a job which I enjoyed but I’m equally lucky that I was able to make the move to the Algarve and still play music albeit at a more leisurely pace and of course continue with my other passion which is sailing.“

You can find Duncan performing with The Three Degrees on youTube live in concert from Scandinavia

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