Monte Kay

Monte Kay
Born	September 18, 1924(1924-09-18), New York City, US
Died	May 25, 1988(1988-05-25) (aged 63), Los Angeles, US
Occupations	Music producer, club manager, Television Producer
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Herbie Mann, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Modern Jazz Quartet, Flip Wilson

Monte Kay, September 18, 1924 – May 25, 1988^[1][2] was a prominent figure of the New York jazz scene in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing - often in association with the disc jockey Symphony Sid - several young musicians and acting as musical director of several night clubs. According to some accounts, during those years he would sometimes introduce himself as a fair-skinned Afro-American.^[3] As the artistic director of the Royal Roost (a jazz venue on 52nd Street) he succeeded in persuading the owner, Ralph Watkins, to hire Miles Davis' nonet - sometimes called the "Tuba Band" - with which Davis was pursuing a project that later was to be called Birth of the Cool, and which started the cool jazz movement. Kay befriended Davis and, during his later marriage to singer/actress Diahann Carroll, was for a time Miles' neighbor.^[3]

In 1949 he founded the jazz club Birdland (later,he would also open another jazz club, Le Downbeat in Chicago). During the 1950s, Kay produced several musicians, including Herbie Mann, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins and the Modern Jazz Quartet. In the same period he married (1956–1963) Singer/actress Diahann Carroll. Their daughter, Suzanne Kay Bamford, is a journalist and television author.

In later years, Kay became the producer of the comedian Flip Wilson and produced the TV show The Flip Wilson Show.

Monte Kay died of heart failure in Los Angeles.

References

1. ^ The New York Times obituary
2. ^ The IMDB record
3. ^ ^{a b} Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, Miles: The Autobiography, Simon and Schuster, 1989, ISBN 0-671-63504-2.

Persondata
Name	Kay, Monte
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 18, 1924
Place of birth
Date of death	May 25, 1988
Place of death