True Jazz Is Not Always Logical,

And Wayne Keenan Understands This

By Shannon Hicks

Wayne Keenan has released an album that he calls “pure jazz.” Counter-Logic was self-produced and released by the Monroe resident, who grew up in Newtown. The collection offers listeners six selections, all composed by Mr Keenan, who has been playing sax for nearly 30 years.

“This is pure jazz,” Mr Keenan said last week. “Each musician is featured so that you hear each one’s abilities, and it’s all based on improvisation.” Most tracks on the collection are also first takes, highlighting the improv skills of Mr Keenan and those he chose to work with on the album.

“Really, that’s what jazz should be: creativity, live, on the spot,” he said.

Mr Keenan handled tenor and alto sax along with flute for Counter-Logic (he also plays soprano sax). Working with him were Arturo Ramirez on keyboards, Luis Navarro on acoustic bass, and Francisco Melendez on percussion. The album was released on June 1.

“Jazz is for thinking people, and listeners of music,” Mr Keenan wrote in the liner notes for Counter-Logic. “As you listen you will hear things that may seem illogical, or notes that may seem out of their element,” he continues, leading into an explanation for the album’s title.

Some of the notes in the half-dozen compositions will catch listeners off guard, he hints. They may or may not sound like they belong, but they were put into each song for a reason. It may or may not make sense, but not everything in life makes sense, Mr Keenan said last week.

“A lot of commercial jazz is very predictable, very practiced,” he said. “A lot of people don’t see creativity as logical, but things occur within music that sometimes doesn’t make sense. It’s counter-logical.”

Mr Keenan began playing music in college. After graduating from Newtown High School (he was in the first class to graduate from the then-“new building” on Berkshire Road, in 1971), he started classes at Western CT State University. He also began practicing saxophone up to seven hours every day. At that pace, he quickly found himself caught up, technically, with the music students who had been playing for years.

“The only problem was, I was practicing jazz and they were doing classical. There was a bit of a conflict there,” he laughed. With classical music a performer or group of musicians strives to play someone else’s composition to perfection, whereas with jazz the musician or musicians create something new each time a work is performed, Mr Keenan says.

After Mr Keenan finished WCSU with a minor in music, he studied for a few years with Jackie McClean. Mr McClean was an alto sax player who had played and studied with Charlie Parker. Mr Keenan studied with Mr McClean before Mr McClean went on to teach at Hartt School of Music.

“[Jackie McClean was] the one who taught me not only who Charlie Parker was, but really, what jazz is all about,” Mr Keenan said. “It’s about creativity, and being proficient on your instruments. It’s about continuously expanding your limits.”

Counter-Logic was recorded at Machine Head Studios in Cancun. The studio is considered the premiere recording studio for many Cuban jazz musicians and offers state-of-the-art recording and sound production. Mr Keenan was one of the first American jazz artists to record there.

The work was done in Cancun for a few reasons. The area was where Mr Keenan met his wife, so the Keenans return to Cancun regularly, sometimes staying for months at a time. As a result, Mr Keenan has become familiar to the music scene in Mexico. He has performed in the Cancun Jazz Festival, and has also shared the stage time with Chucho Valdez, Jr, at Roots Café.

Mr Keenan met “and really clicked with,” he says, Mr Ramirez, Mr Navarro, and Mr Melendez, the musicians on  Counter-Logic.

Recording the songs themselves only took about ten hours, Mr Keenan says almost regretfully.

“It’s funny, because some people think that if it doesn’t take a long time to pull an album together it can’t be good,” he pointed out. “But the best selling jazz album of all time was Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, and that was completely spontaneous.”

For the 1959 album Mr Keenan is referring to, the legendary Davis collected a handful of fellow jazz legends including John Coltrane, Julian “Cannonball” Addely, Bill Evans, and others, and recorded a first-take, completely off-the-cuff session that offers exactly what Mr Keenan says jazz should be: brilliant music done without re-records or overdubs.

“It may have taken only ten hours to record [Counter-Logic] — and don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying any of us are Davis or Coltrane — but there are years of experience behind all of the musicians on this album,” Mr Keenan pointed out.

It took another 20 hours to mix the album, and then three months to pull everything together for the album cover. Alma Keenan provided the photographs for the front and back covers of her husband’s album.

The album is dedicated to “Mi Flor Hermosa,” Spanish for my beautiful flower. A song of the same name appears on the album, and it was all put together by Mr Keenan for his wife, Alma.

Because the music on Counter-Logic is all original, Mr Keenan accepts that it may take a few listens before jazz lovers can get the feel for the album.

“When people buy something that’s all original it takes some time to listen and get a feel for the music,” he said. “It’s like trying new wine. It’s all in the tasting.”

Louis Mialy, the senior editor for Jazz Hot Magazine, a publication out of France, has already said the album offers the “best jazz I have heard in some time.”

Listeners who have reported back to Amazon.com have also liked what they have heard. Of the six customer reviews posted on the Web site this week, all were five-star reviews, the highest possible accolade. “This CD is a flashback,” wrote one listener. “I thought I was listening to Coltrane again… Wayne’s technique is excellent,” that review continued.

Another offered, “…the minute I listened to the track ‘Mi Flor Hermosa,’ I knew this was good stuff,” while still another says, “This new release… has some of the sweetest sax you’ve ever heard.”

Wayne Keenan doesn’t have anything scheduled locally for live shows in the immediate future, although he does make a habit of showing up on occasion to join jam sessions with others. He and Alma will be back in Cancun at the beginning of next year, where he will certainly be playing in clubs regularly, including more shows at Roots Cafe.

In the meantime, copies of Counter-Logic can be purchased for $11 each at Drug Center and Ellie’s Deli in Newtown. Leo’s Restaurant, on South Main Street in Newtown, also has copies available; ask for one at the counter

The CD is also being offered at Dr Mike’s Ice Cream in Bethel and Monroe, as well as Rick’s Deli, on Broad Street in Bridgeport.

Gerosa Records, on Federal Road in Brookfield, also has the CD available. That store has a few listening stations set up and one of the most knowledgeable music staffs in the region.

Counter-Logic may not appear on the Billboard charts or show up on the Amazon.com Top Sellers page any time soon, but that isn’t what is important to Wayne Keenan. It’s the music that is important, and that he now has a permanent collection that represents his talent.

“My goal,” he said, “is not to become popular, but to just allow people to enjoy this music and its creativity.”

Wayne Keenan can be contacted by calling 261-1033 or sending email to wakancun@aol.com. He is available for music lessons (serious students only).