He could hold the spotlight in everything from a trio to Maria Schneider’s 18-piece big band. He was also a passionate educator.
His favorite place to compose, he said, was on a park bench by the East River, overlooking Manhattan.
“I write things that are sketches, one page long. I like to write simple pieces that are easy to play,” he told DownBeat in 2016. “There is a park across the street from my house, and I go over there at night, maybe around 11:00, and I sit there. And if an idea hits me, I may walk around the park with the idea bouncing around my head for six months, and then I might write 16 bars of music.”
A patient, deliberate process suited Mr. Kimbrough, and he was uninterested in any approach that valued physical skill over earnest expression. “Music is not athletics,” he said. “I am tired of hearing clever athletic music.”
