Scotsman Obituaries: Brian Kellock, Scottish jazz pianist who commanded international respect

Brian Robert Kellock, jazz pianist. Born: 28 December 1962 in Edinburgh. Died: 27 May 2025 in Glasgow, aged 62

Pianist Brian Kellock, who has died at the age of 62, was a key figure on the Scottish jazz scene. A virtuoso instrumentalist in his own right, he was a prolific collaborator and a go-to player for visiting international jazz greats.

Recipient of numerous awards, Kellock combined an elegantly considered way with melody with powerful swing, wit and at times gleefully anarchic use of the odd elbow – but also with extraordinary sensitivity. His love of the Great American Songbook shone through his warmly received 2019 solo album Bidin’ My Time, which combined reflective takes on classics as well as some uproarious stride numbers.

Kellock was born in Newington, Edinburgh, the son of Robert Kellock and Margaret (née Buchan). Robert was Executive Officer for the Department of Health & Social Security, Margaret a clerical officer for the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance who later worked in a dress shop.

His mother played piano while his father, a classical music enthusiast, took him to Edinburgh Festival recitals. Brian went to George Heriot’s School, where he apparently first played Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue – an acquaintanceship renewed in no small way many years later, in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s radical reworking of the piece.

He gained a music degree from Edinburgh University, specialising in accompaniment – a talent particularly valued by the vocalists with whom he would later perform. By the Eighties, the gifted young pianist was attracting attention on the local jazz scene, playing with local bluesman Tam White and with Glasgow guitarist Nigel Clark. The late Fionna Duncan hired him to accompany her renowned singing workshops at Glasgow Jazz Festival.

He became involved with the Bancroft and Rae jazz clans and it was with drummer John Rae and bassist Kenny Ellis that he recorded his debut album, a collection of Fred Astaire numbers titled Something’s Got to Give. He was also enlisted into the exuberant folk-jazz fusion of John Rae’s Celtic feet.

Rae emigrated to New Zealand, but he and Kellock later reunited to record another album, Think About It. It was with Rae and Ellis, too, that he recorded 2002’s bop-fuelled Live at Henry’s, album of the year in the BBC Jazz Awards.

Brian Kellock’s talent took him all over the world but Scotland would always be home (Picture: Jazz Services/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

An inveterate collaborator, Kellock struck up an acclaimed touring and recording duo with saxophonist Tommy Smith as well as partnering American musicians Warren Vaché and Scott Hamilton, His period with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra saw him shine in Duke Ellington tributes and in Smith’s remarkable re-arrangement of Rhapsody In Blue.

Many expressed surprise that Kellock never followed so many musicians to London, but he remained rooted in Edinburgh and particularly Leith, where he helped revive the Leith Jazz Festival. His sheer musicality, meanwhile, made him first-call pianist for visiting US jazz stars. He worked regularly with singers Carol Kidd and Sheila Jordan, visiting the Far East with Kidd, China with Danish vocalist Cathrine Legardh and the US with the SNJO. A European tour in the Nineties with Australian trumpeter James Morrison was a significant development for him.

Known for his witty “play-ons” for the Scottish Jazz Awards ceremonies, he curated concerts for the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, featuring the likes of American clarinettist Ken Peplowski , or Kellock’s “dream team” of Vaché, Hamilton and Jacob Fischer. His “By Special Request” solo concerts showcased his ability to deliver, off the top of his head, innumerable tunes from the Great American Songbook, while his Sunday afternoon residency with Ellis at Leith’s Shore Bar provided the kind of intimate vibe in which he thrived.

Singer Kidd describes Kellock’s musicianship as “unsurpassed”, adding that it was a privilege to share the same platform with "our wonderful, unflappable, unforgettable maestro. Brian had the ability to make me feel instantly safe on stage and every performance was a masterclass in his musical integrity – as well as his wicked sense of humour. He was a powerhouse of swing and excruciatingly tender with ballads.”

Reedsman John Burgess often played with Kellock, the two sharing an interest in classic swinging jazz. Kellock, Burgess agrees, suffered badly during Covid lockdown. While many musicians took to streaming from home, he wasn’t happy playing to an invisible, inaudible audience and missed being able to play with his fellow musicians in person. “Brian’s whole ethos was being connected with the humanity of a music scene.”

For sheer musicianship, Burgess says, he never played with anyone quite like Kellock, and recalls a video session during the pandemic: “Brian suggested we do Angel Eyes as a duo and what he did was just so incredible, a combination of utter freedom with all the harmony completely there. At the end of the session I asked him ‘How do you come up with that?’ And he just shrugged and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just played the tune.’

“I was in America for a long time, in Europe and London and played with lots of piano players, but I’ve never played with anybody like Brian.”

Another of Kellock’s duos was with trumpeter Colin Steele, their gleeful instrumental take on musicals becoming a Fringe feature at Edinburgh’s Jazz Bar. “It was always such an honour to be on the stage with Brian,” says Steele. “You had to be at the top of your game to be able to keep up; the only thing for sure was that each tune was going to be different from any way you’d played it before: Brian was always searching, never happy to take the easy route. But more than anything, it had to be fun. He would have you laughing your head off one minute, then the next play something so heartachingly beautiful it would bring you to tears.

“He was the archetypal ‘old school’ jazz musician: he loved playing the great American songbook. To play with him, you needed to have a good selection of standards ready, as he would often turn down your first and second choice of tune, leaving you a nervous wreck if you didn’t have more at the ready!”

Kellock succumbed to cancer (but was still laying at the Shore earlier last month). He is survived by his fiancée Alison Kerr, sister Hazel and half-brother Vincent.

Obituaries

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