September 28, 2025

Kenny Kirkland

Kenneth David Kirkland (September 28, 1955 – November 12, 1998 Brooklyn, NY) was an American pianist and keyboardist. In 1980, while Kirkland was on tour in Japan with Terumasa Hino, he met Wynton Marsalis, which began his long association with both Wynton and his older brother Branford. On Wynton’s self-titled debut album, Kirkland shared the piano duties with one of his musical influences, Herbie Hancock, but was the sole pianist on Marsalis’s subsequent releases Think of One, Hot House Flowers and Black Codes (From the Underground).