Jazz band plays on for Adrian Kenyon as the musician shares inspiring life journey filled with passion

Burning passions for music and writing have allowed the talented Adrian Kenyon to forge a colourful career out of the two things he enjoys most. During an extensive musical career, he played solo piano in bars, pubs and restaurants, accompanied singers and choirs, and played in groups of various sizes across the UK, Africa, Perth and now Albany. Kenyon was WA’s first State jazz co-ordinator and one of his proudest achievements was his role in the formation of the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra. He moved to Albany in 2017 for the quieter life, where he ended up creating the Rainbow Coast Big Band with fellow musician Dave Rastrick in February 2018. The band comprises 18 musicians and three singers, plus the Bluebirds vocal trio. They recreate the swing sounds of Glen Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, the Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald — plus more modern artists such as Michael Buble and Diana Krall. “When I came here, I met Dave Rastrick and he was toying with the idea of restarting a big band,” Kenyon said. “That was lucky because I’d played in a band in Africa and Perth and over the years I’d acquired a lot of arrangements. “Dave knew the people and so that’s how we started.” The Rainbow Coast Big Band debuted at the Vancouver Street Festival. Their most recent performance was the closing concert for the Harbourside Festival at Albany Entertainment Centre. “It’s not easy to get gigs for a big band. For example, we wouldn’t fit on to the stage at the White Star Hotel,” Kenyon said. “Playing in a pub like that wouldn’t work. We’re a great musical unit to have in summer — playing at a winery, for example.” He also plays with jazz group Spindrift. The pianist grew up in Britain in a rural town near Manchester. His involvement in music started early. “Probably like most children whose parents make you play the piano when you’re about six years old, that’s how it started, I suppose,” Kenyon said. “I think I was pretty fortunate because at the school I went to there were some lads in my class that played different instruments and wanted to get together in a band and that is wonderful because then you are not playing for yourself but playing for other people. “So that desire to always be involved in that way started for me then.” After deciding to pursue his passion for writing as a journalist, Kenyon received a call from a former interview subject. A man who ran a theatre in Rhodesia — now Zimbabwe — offered him a job at the country’s leading theatre company. “All they wanted me to do was just when the show was ending was to play an encore tune on the piano,” he said. “The pay was astronomical — all to just come down on stage for less than one minute.” Kenyon then worked for an advertising production house, composing jingles for radio, TV and film productions, and produced pop records. In 1980, he moved to WA, where he played in a big band for the first time. “I wanted to start my life again in WA. It’s easy to start again in the sunshine than it is in the cold rainy streets of Britain,” he said. Big-band music made him imagine what it must have been like around World War II, when couples would dance to the music, knowing it might be their last time together. Jazz was always his favourite genre. “I just love this kind of music. It doesn’t mean I’m against pop music or anything, I just find this more thrilling to play and also very challenging,” he said. “All those wonderful tunes written in 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, in what was loosely called the Great American Songbook.” One of Kenyon’s main ambitions in life was to combine his passions by writing a jazz column. He had hit stumbling blocks earlier in his journalism career, including as a budding cadet reporter. He recalls how he got fired from his role as a cadet after his manager found out he had been driving to the local police station to get crime stories — despite not holding a driver’s licence. “All my life, I wanted to see if I could write a jazz column somewhere; it never arose in England or Rhodesia,” he said. “I went to the editor of Sunday Times to see if they were interested in a jazz column and the opportunity came up straight away. I guess because in those days, it was 120-page paper.” Kenyon started writing his column in late 1980, profiling musicians and doing previews and reviews of all things jazz. He later worked at Post Newspapers in Perth, and after journalism became a repetiteur for ballet classes at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, John Curtin College of the Arts and WA Ballet. He retired to Albany for a change of tempo, but has plenty of music left to play.

Jazz band plays on for Adrian Kenyon as the musician shares inspiring life journey filled with passion

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