Duncan Hopkins and Kenny Wheeler have a lot in common.
Both have connections to both Canada and the U.K.: Wheeler was born in Canada yet spent much of his career playing in Britain, while Hopkins was born in the U.K. and now calls Canada home.
Both musicians are prolific players and composers. Both have called St. Catharines home at different points in time. And both have had a wonderful working relationship with each other and with their colleagues.
So, it’s no surprise that for his latest recording, bassist and composer Duncan Hopkins pays tribute to his mentor Kenny Wheeler. The project finds Hopkins putting his own spin on the music of Wheeler while also composing tunes in his honour — or even at his prodding.
Hopkins joined us to talk about his latest album Who Are You? The Music of Kenny Wheeler.
Let’s start with the album cover. Tell us a little bit about the artist who created it.
It’s by a guy named Neil McVey. He’s a guitarist from St. Catharines but he now lives in Calgary. I met him a long time ago; we were at rival high schools, but they had the good music program. I would go by and hang out and try to learn as much as I could over here, so I got to know a lot of those guys. We all have that connection.
How did this project come about?
Well, everything I do probably sounds like a Kenny Wheeler tribute in some ways, just because of my love of his music. Coming out of the pandemic, I needed to do something. This band just kind of came together. It wasn’t intentionally a two-guitar band, and it wasn’t supposed to be Michel Lambert; it was supposed to be Ted Warren, but he got appendicitis a day or two before. I’m very happy with how it all worked out.
When it comes to Canadian artists, certain names will often come to mind: Oscar Peterson, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Ed Bickert, Diana Krall. Kenny Wheeler may not be at the top of that list, but those of us who know and love his music can attest to why it’s so important. Why do you think there aren’t as many people who are aware of what he did?
That’s a question for the ages. Who can predict why someone will be better known than others? It may have been his personality — he was just so self-deprecating and really wasn’t an extrovert. He complained a lot about not working enough in England. It may have been the attitude — not to say that was his fault or anything, but he should be better known. I know that one of the first times I went to England to play, Nikki Iles said to me, “My two favourite jazz musicians are Canadian.” And of course, like you said, you’d be thinking Oscar Peterson, Rob McConnell, those names. But she said Kenny Wheeler and Paul Bley. I thought that was interesting, because they’re much more on the modern side of things.
How did you choose the repertoire from among Wheeler’s large body of work?
There wasn’t as much thought as you would think. Mostly, it was tunes that I like. I lifted them from different albums. Because there were two guitars, I wanted to make sure there was almost always a melody and a countermelody, because otherwise you could just have a trio. We did it live to analogue tape, and in fact I had a few more I wanted to do, but we ran out of tape.
Analogue tape! Really?
Yeah, yeah. Going back and doing it old-school.
One of the tunes was one that you might have written at Kenny’s suggestion, is that right?
It’s a bit of a long story. The album is dedicated to my pal Warren Stirtzinger. One day we were sitting in Tim Hortons and Ken came home to St. Catharines to visit and asked Warren what he was up to. He said he was playing in a six-guitar band in Buffalo. The next day, Ken showed up with a 25-page score of a new song for six guitars. I saw this and I had it in my head for the last 15 to 20 years, and now the opportunity came to put it together. So, the St. Catharines Suite, as he called it, on the front of this song that he gave to Warren, he wrote, “This could be part of the St. Catharines Suite, if it’s any good.” I took another song of his from a CBC album from 1976, a tune called “Kitts,” and then I couldn’t find any other ones that were dedicated to St. Catharines, so I decided I would write the song “Montebello,” the park where I met Ken, which is at the bottom of the street he grew up on, “Salina St.” So those are the three parts of the St. Catharines Suite.
This interview has been edited and condensed.