Early Career: 1970s and 1980s
When Kendrick was eighteen, he turned professional, touring and playing keyboards with R&B and funk acts. He traveled internationally with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, James Brown and George Clinton.
At twenty-one, Kendrick began a primary focus on jazz, moving to New York in 1981. He played keyboards for artists such as Freddie Hubbard, Terence Blanchard, Stanley Turrentine, Clark Terry, J. J. Johnson, and others. He studied with pianist Barry Harris, who remained his teacher and mentor for over 20 years. Kendrick cites Randy Weston and Sun Ra as influences. In the early 1990s he served as Abbey Lincoln’s musical leader for seven years.
Read more about this topic: Rodney Kendrick
Famous quotes containing the word early:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)