Fred Kaz

Frederick R. Kaz (December 28, 1933 – March 12, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer and musical director. He recorded the album Eastern Exposure for Atlantic Records in 1960 and later became the longtime musical director of the Chicago improvisational theater The Second City. His responsive accompaniment helped shape the pacing and tone of the company's improvised scenes. Kaz also composed the scores for the films The Monitors and Little Murders (1971).

Early life and jazz career

Kaz was born in Chicago. In his late teens, he studied composition and piano at the music school of DePaul University, intending to pursue a career as a classical pianist. While working at a paper-box factory, his left hand was caught in a machine, which amputated one finger and part of another and seriously injured the rest of the hand. The accident ended his plans for a classical concert career.

After initially believing that he could no longer perform professionally, Kaz turned to jazz, which allowed him to choose the distribution of notes rather than reproduce written classical chords. He developed techniques that accommodated his injured hand, including repeated notes that created the impression of a sustained swell, clusters followed by selected held notes, slides and accented grace notes. In a 1962 profile, Down Beat writer Gene Lees described these devices as elements of a highly individual and recognizable style and reported that Kaz was one of Chicago's most respected pianists. Kaz remained with Second City for 24 years, retiring in 1989. A 1988 Chicago Tribune profile characterized Kaz as the “musical glue” that held Second City together. A 1999 Daily Herald retrospective marking Second City's 40th anniversary likewise presented Kaz as a fixture of the theater's established format, describing its sketches as accompanied by his piano and recalling him as a venerable, aging beatnik. In his 2014 Tribune obituary of Kaz, theater critic Chris Jones described him as becoming as crucial to Second City performances as a cast member and reported that his tenure was the longest of any performer in the theater's history.

During his Second City years, Kaz composed the music for the company's 1969 film The Monitors, in which he also appeared, and scored the 1971 black comedy Little Murders, directed by Alan Arkin.

Later career and death

Kaz retired from Second City in 1989 and moved to Southern California. That year, he also appeared as Noah in the mock documentary ...And God Spoke. In 1999, Kaz was listed for the Masters Panel at the fourth Big Stinkin' International Improv & Sketch Comedy Festival in Austin, alongside Charna Halpern, Gary Austin, Carlo Mazzone-Clementi and Dan O'Connor. In 2005, the Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival selected him to receive its Del Close Advancement of Improv Award.

Kaz died of lung cancer on March 12, 2014, aboard his boat in San Pedro, where he had lived in retirement. He was 80. The Second City announced a memorial celebration for him in Chicago the following September.

Discography

Eastern Exposure (Atlantic, 1960)

Film scores

The Monitors (1969) Little Murders (1971)