Q&A with Tom Keenlyside

 

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen
Photos courtesy of Tom Keenlyside

Tom Keenlyside is a Canadian musician who plays saxophone, flute and trumpet. He worked with Aerosmith on three albums and with Bon Jovi on their hit album “Slippery When Wet”. Chet Baker played table tennis with Tom at his house when Chet hit his head on the wall and passed out for 20 seconds. Tom recently worked with Richie Sambora on a few tracks and is recording a jazz album in August with friends based on the beat generation writer Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road”.

KB: Did you always want to be a musician growing up?

Like most kids, I had no idea what was to become of me as an adult. That changed in high school in grade 8, when I was arbitrarily elected to play trumpet in the beginner band. My parents rented me a trumpet, a pretty feeble one at that. I figured out how to make a sound on it on the same day, and by the next day, I could bleat out a version of “The Saints Go Marching In”, which I proceeded to inflict on the neighbors from my bedroom window. I progressed quickly on the thing, and by grade ten I was playing first trumpet in the senior band. The saxophone came later.

KB: Why did you choose the saxophone and the flute? I read “Strange Meadowlark” influenced you?

I’ll tell you the “Strange Meadowlark” thing first. Even though I was making strides playing the trumpet, it still hadn’t dawned on me that this was a life’s calling. It was fun, but my mind was full of teen angst, etc. and I wasn’t really thinking about it too much. As a matter of course, I walked to school every day and passed by my friend Tony’s house, from which we would continue on together. We were both in grade nine at the time. On one morning as I approached his house, the front door was open, and his mom was playing Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out” on her hi-fi.

I stood there, kind of in a trance, as he finished his beautiful intro to “Strange Meadowlark”, and heard Paul Desmond’s first entrance, quoting the melody. It was (and actually still is) maybe the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. I thought to myself “I don’t know what that is, but that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. After that epiphany, I went out and spent every cent of my allowance on Dave Brubeck records…”Time Further Out”, “Time Changes”, “Time in Outer Space” .They all drove me crazy! I still was only playing the trumpet at this time, but I started playing gigs, for actual money when I was fourteen.

More money for Dave Brubeck records! My cousin played the flute in the junior symphony, and because we had a bit of a rivalry, I decided to take it up in addition to the trumpet. I thought the girls might like it. (it didn’t seem to make a difference). I really bonded with the instrument, though, and even though I was still playing the trumpet in R&B bands and starting to play the clubs downtown (at the age of sixteen!) I spent most of my time practicing the flute. I eventually got accepted as a flute major at the university in the classical program. I continued with the trumpet for a little while, but it wasn’t doing my flute chops any favors, and prepping for a classical flute recital was nerve-racking enough, so I set it aside. I took up the saxophone when I was twenty- three, and because the fingerings are very similar, I was playing gigs on it in a couple of weeks, By this time, my life course was set.

KB: You worked with the late great Dizzy Gillespie? How did you meet and what was it like working with him?

I shared a stage with Dizzy Gillespie in Vancouver, along with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. We only chatted briefly backstage, so I don’t pretend to have known him, but I did perform with him, sitting literally three feet behind him in a saxophone section. The thing that stood out for me, other than the fact I was playing with Dizzy Gillespie (mind-blowing enough) was his warm-up during rehearsal. I’ve never heard anyone play hipper stuff on any instrument, before or since. His knowledge of harmony and the expansion of it was in full display as he played his horn-absolutely breathtaking!

KB: Table tennis and Chet Baker? Now that is an interesting fact.

My wife and her friend went into the jazz promotion business for a time in the 80s, They brought some great musicians to Vancouver, such as Jim Hall, John Handy, Richie Cole, Spyrogyra and some others. One of these folks was Chet Baker, who did a three day stint at a place called “The Hot Jazz Club”. We hung around with Chet for a few days, which of course was extremely cool, and during that time, he let it known that during one of his lengthy incarcerations, he’d taken up ping-pong and told us he was pretty good at it. As it turned out, Rene, the bass player on the gig and Graham, the drummer and I were totally wired to the sport, and played several times a week,. As a matter of fact, I had built a room in the basement of my house completely dedicated to the game, with great lighting and plenty of space behind the table to back up and slam the ball. I suggested to Chet that he come over to my house and we could play doubles, and he was enthusiastic about the idea, or as enthusiastic as someone who’s full of methadone can be.

After the gig, we went to my place and started playing ping-pong. Chet was teamed with Rene, who had a pretty aggressive backhand, and I was teamed with Graham, who used devilish spin shots as offense. It turned out Chet was, in fact pretty good, and we were having a great old time. At one point, Chet set up Graham for a shot, and Graham put a spin on the ball that hit the table hard and spun off at a severe right angle. Chet lunged for the ball and his head came in sharp contact with my basement wall. He slid down the wall to the floor, cartoon style, and lay there, completely knocked out, his reading glasses smashed flat on his face and a big knot on his forehead.

We rushed over, and stood over him, shocked. Graham finally spoke: “Oh God, we’ve killed Chet Baker!” What a thought, after a hard life with drugs and multiple recoveries from death, to be finished off by an overdose of ping-pong? Well, thankfully it was not to be. After about twenty seconds of being out cold, Chet came to, and said in a plaintive voice… “Can I please have a cup of tea?” I should say that all three shows that Chet Baker played were magic. He started out playing low and slow, kind of warming up, and then took off, night after night. His singing was high art, and you could swear that the lines and wrinkles of his tough life disappeared as he sung “My Funny Valentine”, and he was once more the nineteen year old idol of his youth. He was a lovely guy in general, and one of the true giants.

KB: You worked with Aerosmith on 3 of their albums. How did you meet and what was it like working with these guys?

Back in the 1980s, Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver was a mecca for recording rock bands. The combination of Bob Rock, engineer, Bruce Fairbairn , producer, and Jim Vallance, songwriter, and all my good friends, were a driving force behind this era, along with Mike Fraser, engineer. Because I had recorded at Little Mountain for years playing on jingles and movie scores as a session player, often recorded by Bob, and I also played and was close friends with Bruce and Jim, when their stars rose I was always in the mix. Jim had just finished writing Bryan Adams biggest hits, such as “Summer Of 69” and “ Heaven”. Bruce Fairbairn was making a big name for himself, producing Loverboy’s first album in 1980.

After Bruce’s success with this album and the smash hit “Slippery When Wet” by Bon Jovi, his services were in high demand. Bruce called me to do a bunch of horn arrangements for his next clients, who turned out to be Aerosmith. I wrote the horn section charts for “Dude Looks Like A Lady”, “Heart’s Done Time”, “Ragdoll” and one or two more. I also played on all of them, including a wacky clarinet solo on the tag of “Ragtime” and put together some great horn sections for the tracks. I mostly worked with Steven Tyler, who was an excellent natural musician, super supportive with great and sometimes unconventional ideas that turned out to be right on the money. After that, I recorded tracks for their subsequent albums “ Pump” and “Get a Grip.” Eventually, I ended up playing live with them, which was a hoot.

Aerosmith is a great band, and the players are lights-out good in the style they’ve chosen. It was a pleasure working with them. Subsequently, I recorded with Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Motley Crüe, Scorpions, Yes, and some others, all through the connection I had with Bruce et al. Very fun stuff. I’m currently plugging away at a book which is sort of a reminiscence of my life as a musician and all the various weird and wonderful things that have happened to me, and I have a chapter on the Aerosmith sessions, which were pretty intense.

KB: You worked with Bon Jovi on their album Slippery When Wet: How did you meet and what’s it like working with Bon Jovi on such a great album?

Bruce was also a great trumpet player, and because we had played together in bands so much, I was the obvious choice for all this work, including the Bon Jovi album “Slippery When Wet”. Bruce and I recorded horns on a tune called “Social Disease”, and basically made the parts up on the spot. Jon was there offering suggestions, and was generally helpful in the process. He was a nice fellow, as I recall, and really easy to work with. It was a short session, maybe a couple of hours. In my opinion, the chorus on “Livin’ On A Prayer” is one of the greatest rock and roll choruses ever recorded. What a sound!

KB: Are there any current artists out there you would love to collaborate with and why?

As the internet has shown us every day, there are spectacular musicians all over the world, and many with whom I’d like to play music. The Italian guitarist Pasquale Grasso pops to mind; what a player! I’d love to play some tunes with him! There’s also an incredible chromatic harmonica player from Brazil named Gabriel Grossi who is fantastic, and I had actually talked to him when I was in Sao Paulo about recording some things, but it hasn’t happened yet. I hope it does! I’ve done a bunch of recording with my friend Michael O’Neill, who has been playing rhythm guitar with George Benson for the last thirty years, and I’d love to do more stuff with him. Recently, I’ve done a bunch of tracks for Richie Sambora, ex-Bon Jovi guitarist, who is great to work with and a great songwriter. I look forward to doing some more music with him. Basically, I tend to play with my friends from home, who are beautiful players and great people

KB: You can make an album with 7 of your most favorite songs where you can play either sax or flute: what would you pick and why?

Not to evade the question, but all the really great tunes that I love have been recorded extensively and definitively in my opinion, by the greats. I love playing music from the Great American Songbook, ie Gershwin, Arlen, Porter so if I were to record existing material it would probably be from those folks. I also love Brazilan music and I’ve done an album of that genre, so I ‘d like to do more… maybe some Ivan Lins or Gilberto Gil, both of whom knock me out. I recently did an album of ‘60s and 70s pop tunes with Steve Madaio, the trumpet player who played on the Stevie Wonder albums “Songs In The Key Of Life” and “Talking Book”. We did versions of “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”, “Born To Be Wild, “Ode To Billie Joe”, “Memphis Underground” and some others. It was great fun, and I’m really pleased with the results. I probably would elect to writing my own original music, though. I’ve just written a bunch of music for a jazz album I’m recording with my friends based on the beat generation writer Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road”. We’re doing that in August, 2025

KB: What are you currently up to?

I still play lots of gigs in various styles…mostly at home in Vancouver these days. The musicianship in this town is superb, with brilliant young players coming up in the ranks all the time. As a 74 year old guy, I’m happy to be playing music with players in their twenties who are incredible. I’m currently in three different big bands, mostly playing challenging music on tenor sax, and many of the other players in the band are the new crop of world-beaters. I also play the blues and other things with a pianist/vocalist named Doc Fingers, a real veteran and a killer boogie-woogie/blues player. I play fairly often as an extra musician with the Vancouver Symphony…in the middle of July we’re playing the musical score along with the movie “Barbie”. I’ve done several of these and they are a hoot. I’ve always been primarily a jazz musician at heart, even though most of my living has been playing R&B and rock. I’ve put together several recording studios throughout the years, so recording music is easy for me. I have yet another musical career which is ongoing. I’ve resurrected my trumpet from the dust and I’m recording it along with the various saxophones, flutes, clarinets and trombone that I play, and I put together horn sections for other artists (like Richie Sambora) on which I play all the parts myself.

People seem to dig the results, because I have a seemingly unending bunch of work in this regard, which I’m really happy about. I write all the parts, play them, and send them out via the internet. I’ve got folks from Europe, Asia, the USA, and of course Vancouver calling on me for horn arrangements, which is super-fun and right up my alley! In the last ten years or so, I’ve been concentrating on writing and producing my own music, most of it jazz-oriented, some Brazilian stuff. I’ve got, I think, seven albums under my own name or the band Altered Laws with music I’m really proud of. The folks I play with are at the top of their game, and it’s a privilege to play music with them. I intend to keep making jazz records until the money runs out! As I mentioned, the next one’s in August.

Over the last 60 years I’ve done so many different kinds of things in the music business; playing gigs of all types of music, writing and recording television music for twenty years, producing advertising jingles for 15 years, working in Nashville, touring with big rock bands, playing Dixieland gigs, jazz gigs…you name it. To me, it’s all music, and I am one very lucky person to be able to have done it. My pals in the business are the best, and they all have similar stories to mine. I’ll keep doing it as long as I possibly can!

Check out Tom’s website: HERE

Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt