Detroit native Kenny Cox (who preferred Kenn to Kenny) was a jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, instructor, and culture worker. His name is synonymous with abundant creativity on Detroit's jazz scene during the last half of the 20th century and into the 21st. Cox was fluent in the jazz languages of bebop, hard bop, and post-bop as well as spiritual and soul-jazz. In addition to leading two excellent dates for Blue Note in 1968 (Introducing Kenny Cox And The Contemporary Jazz Quintet) and 1970 (Multidirection), his Contemporary Jazz Quintet issued Location in 1973 as the first release from Strata Records, a label he co-founded. During the 1980s, Cox led the Guerilla Jam Band and did session work. He collaborated with saxophonist Donald Walden on Focus: The Music of Tadd Dameron in 2003 and played with saxophonist James Carter on 2004's Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge. In 2006, he founded Kenn Cox and Drum. His Strata and Blue Note titles have been reissued several times during the 21st century. In 2012, Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise, a lost Strata session by Cox, appeared; it was reissued in 2022 by BBE.

Kenneth Louis Cox II was born on November 8, 1940. He began playing music on trumpet, and studied at the Detroit Conservatory of Music from 1949 to 1958, but he gave up the horn for the piano as a freshman at Cass Tech High School in 1956. Upon graduation from Cass Tech in 1958, he attended the Detroit Conservatory of Music from 1949 to 1958 and the Detroit Institute of Music Arts from 1959 to 1961. In addition to piano, he played trumpet, bassoon, and bass. Cox then left for New York City, where he connected with Etta Jones and was her accompanist and music director until 1966, also working with Helen Humes and Ernestine Anderson. However, he came back to Detroit in frustration. Cox told an interviewer: "I had a crisis of self-esteem or whatever you want to call it. After playing with her for so long and not the hardcore cats, I felt that I was really behind, or at least I convinced myself I was. So that's why I really came back to Detroit, to regroup myself."

Upon returning to the Motor City, he joined trombonist George Bohannon's working hard bop quintet. Cox not only played piano in the group, he wrote and arranged for them as well. Though he owned a style, the twin influences of Detroit elder Hank Jones and Bud Powell were evident. During the mid-'60s, Cox emerged as a modernist jazz composer. Inspired by the jazz and soul music of the decade as well as and the political and cultural landscapes of Detroit, Cox also produced a weekly radio program, Kaleidophone, on the public radio station WDET-FM, and served as the station's director of community access programming.

In 1967, he formed the Contemporary Jazz Quintet with bassist Ron Brooks, trumpeter Charles Moore, saxophonist Leon Henderson (saxophonist Joe Henderson's brother), and Danny Spencer. Cox, who had composed two albums' worth of material for the group, signed to Blue Note and took his quintet to work in a New York studio with house producer/pianist Duke Pearson. It was a breakthrough modern jazz ensemble, in several ways paralleling the work of the second Miles Davis quintet. Introducing Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet appeared in 1968 to universally positive reviews -- a Cashbox reviewer called it "soul-jazz with an edge." Their 1969 followup, Multidirection was produced by Blue Note label co-founder and photographer Francis Wolff. More aggressive and spiky, it too won positive notice from critics. In addition, the trip to New York allowed Cox opportunities to perform with artists ranging from Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Eddie Harris, Jackie McLean, and Roy Haynes to Ben Webster, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Dorham, Joe Williams, Philly Joe Jones, and fellow Detroiters Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Charles McPherson, and Curtis Fuller. Cox also appeared with Detroit rockers the MC5 while they were in New York recording their third album, High Time -- he appears on the riotous single, "Sister Ann."

Cox's Contemporary Jazz Quintet changed with the times as the electronic-infused 1970s took hold. He added a second drummer in Bud Spangler, as well as guitarist Ron English, keyboardist Phil Mendelson, and others in what was dubbed an "Infinite Q." Cox, CJQ members, and others formed Strata as a corporate collective and a local record label, and they ran a performance space called the Strata Concert Gallery. The label released a number of albums, including discs by saxophonist Larry Nozero and organist Lyman Woodard. Cox played on Bert Myrick's Live'n Well. Interestingly, his own CJQ title, Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise went unreleased at the time and was thought lost. Strata closed in 1977 due to cash flow problems, and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet split up.

In 1976, Cox played on Phil Ranelin's now-legendary Vibes from the Tribe, showcasing a homegrown collective co-founded by the trombonist, saxophonist Wendell Harrison, and trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. The Tribe organization ran a label, a publication, and a gathering/performance space. They were deeply influenced by Strata's example. Cox freelanced and supplemented his income working as a building manager at the Renaissance Center. For a couple years, he stopped playing entirely.

Cox quit that job after a few years and, tired of being off the scene, founded the Guerilla Jam Band in 1980. Its fluid and ever-evolving lineup included -- at various junctures -- Regina Carter, James Carter, Marion Hayden, Rodney Whitaker, Tani Tabbal, Jaribu Shahid, Craig Taborn, Alex Harding, Francisco Mora Catlett, Ralph Jones, Phil Lasley, Vincent Bowens, and Donald Walden. The Guerilla Jam Band performed at several Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festivals and somewhat regularly at Baker's Keyboard Lounge and elsewhere until 1992. At the same time, Cox's compositions were being recorded by the Jazz Crusaders, Eldee Young, Marshall Vente, and Norman Connors, among others.

Cox formed the Societie of the Culturally Concerned, and became an adjunct professor at Wayne State and Michigan State universities. He moved briefly to Las Vegas, where he did a stint teaching, and he served as an instructor for the Cal State Summer Arts program.

Back in Detroit, he led a trio featuring drummer Bert Myrick and bassist Marion Hayden. In addition, he published a book of compositions, And Then I Wrote...The Music World of Kenn Cox, composed a jazz mass, and collaborated with the band Eternal Wind -- featuring former CJQ member Moore and percussionist Adam Rudolph. In 1983, Cox produced The Gift of Love for the spiritual soul-jazz outfit Sam Sanders and Visions; he also appeared on two cuts. Three years later, Cox played on drummer/percussionist Francisco Mora Catlett's seminal Mora alongside bassist Whitaker, steel drummers Alberto Nacif and Emile Borde, saxophonist Vincent Bowens, and percussionist Jerome Le Duff. In 1999, he worked with Catlett again on the drummer's World Trade Music album. In 2003, Cox played with Walden on the saxophonist's Focus: The Music of Tadd Dameron. The pianist also appeared with saxophonist James Carter on the 2004 Warner Bros. recording Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge. In 2006, he founded Cox and Drum with Djallo Djakate Keita, Mahindi Masai, Igbo, and Greg Cook. The group performed, but they never recorded. Blue Note reissued Introducing Kenny Cox and Multidirection as a two-fer in 2007. In the spring of 2008, Cox was given a lifetime achievement award by the Southeastern Michigan Jazz Association. He died of lung cancer at his Detroit home on December 19; he was 68.

In 2012, guided by DJ Amir, 180 Proof Records issued Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise, an unreleased -- and previously thought lost -- Cox solo album on Strata from 1974. 180 Proof Records/BBE reissued CJQ's Location in 2018 and issued the quintet's The Black Hole, a previously unreleased document of a live appearance at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, in 2020. The following year, BBE released DJ Amir Presents 'Strata Records - The Sound of Detroit,' Vol. 1, and Blue Note re-released Introducing Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet on vinyl as part of its prestigious Tone Poet series. BBE offered a premium vinyl reissue of Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise in 2022. ~ Michael G. Nastos & Thom Jurek, Rovi