Introduction
Ken Wessel (born 1956 ) is an American jazz musician (guitar, composition) and music teacher.
Life and career
Ken Wessel was born Kenneth Wessel in 1956. He studied music at the Manhattan School of Music.
Between 1988 and 2000, he toured with Ornette Coleman and his band Prime Time. In 1995, he performed on Wessel's album Tone Dialing.
In 1995, Ken and Bangladeshi tabla player/percussionist Badal Roy toured India and the U.S. with their composition, "Testimony," which was commissioned by the Battery Dance Company. In 1998, he collaborated with Badal Roy and Japanese jazz bassist Stomu Takeishi on the album Daybreak.
In 2004, Wessel recorded the album Jawboning (CIMP) in a trio with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Lou Grassi. Two years later, in 2006, he released the album Weights & Measures with his quartet—Joel Frahm (saxophone), Peck Allmond(saxophone), Brad Jones (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums).
An album with Indian classical musician Debashish Bhattacharya, Anders Lønne Grønseth and Subhashis Bhattacharya followed in 2016, which reflected Wessel's interest in North Indian music.
Over the years, Wessel has collaborated with such musicians as Sam Bardfeld, Lewis Porter, William Gagliardi, Adam Rudolph, Karaikudi Mani, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Samir Chatterjee, John Abercrombie, Dave Liebman, Gloria Lynne, Arthur Prysock, Red Prysock, Karl Berger, Steve Gorn, Hamid Drake, Steve Turre and Johnny Hartman.
On Donald Fagens's 2006 album Morph the Cat, Wessel played the guitar solo on the track "Security Joan".
In the 2000s and 2010s, Wessel also recorded with Virginia Mayhew, Ingrid Sertso and Stephen Gauci.
Between 1995 and 2016, Wessel was involved in around 28 recording sessions.
As a composer, Wessel has received several grants under the program "Meet the Composer." He currently teaches at Western Connecticut State University, CCNY, Long Island University, in addition to leading ensembles at the New York Jazz Workshop. He also gives clinics and workshops around the world and has taught at universities and festivals, including: Oslo Music Academy, ICSMS Festival (Istanbul, Turkey), Mahaidol University (Bangkok), Yale University, World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland), Manhattan School of Music, and many others.