Kai Winding
Kai Chresten Winding (May 18, 1922 – May 6, 1983) was a Danish born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is known for his collaborations with fellow trombonist J. His version of "More", the theme from the movie Mondo Cane, reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963 and remained his only entry there.
Also recorded as Kai Chresten Winding
Kai Winding

William P. Gottlieb · This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Music Division under the digital ID gottlieb.09401. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A norma · Public domain
- Name
- Kai Winding
- Birth Name
- Kai Chresten Winding
- Born
- 18 May 1922
- Birthplace
- Aarhus, Denmark
- Died
- 6 May 1983
- Place of death
- Yonkers, New York, U.S.
- Occupation
- Musician, composer
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- jazz
- Education
- Stuyvesant High School
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Kai Chresten Winding (May 18, 1922 – May 6, 1983) was a Danish born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is known for his collaborations with fellow trombonist J. His version of "More", the theme from the movie Mondo Cane, reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963 and remained his only entry there.
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wikidata · Q494976 · wikipedia · Kai Winding
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Kai Winding • Birth Name — Kai Chresten Winding • Born — 18 May 1922 • Birthplace — Aarhus, Denmark • Died — 6 May 1983 • Place of death — Yonkers, New York, U.S. • Genre — Jazz • Occupation — Musician, composer • Instrument — Trombone • Years Active — 1940–1983
Biography
Biography
Winding was born in Aarhus, Denmark. His father, Ove Winding, was a naturalized U.S. citizen, thus Kai, his mother, and sisters, though born abroad were already U.S. citizens. In September 1934, his mother, Jenny Winding, moved Kai and his two sisters, Ann and Alice. Kai graduated in 1940 from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and that same year began his career as a professional trombonist with Shorty Allen's band. Subsequently, he played with Sonny Dunham and Alvino Rey, until he entered the United States Coast Guard during World War II. After the war, Winding was a member of Benny Goodman's orchestra, then Stan Kenton's. He participated in Birth of the Cool sessions in 1949, appearing on four of the twelve tracks, while J. J. Johnson appeared on the other eight, having participated on the other two sessions. • Illustration — From left: Eddie Safranski, Winding, Stan Kenton, Pete Rugolo, and Shelly Manne, c. January 1946. Photograph by William P. Gottlieb. In 1954, at the urging of producer Ozzie Cadena, Winding began a long association with Johnson, recording trombone duets for Savoy Records, then Columbia. He experimented with instruments in brass ensembles. The album Jay & Kai + 6 (1956) featured a trombone octet and the trombonium. He composed and arranged many of the works he and Johnson recorded. During the 1960s, Winding began an association with Verve Records and producer Creed Taylor. He released the first version of "Time Is on My Side" in 1963 before it was recorded by Irma Thomas and The Rolling Stones. His best selling recording from this period is "More", the theme from the movie Mondo Cane, which reached number eight in the Billboard Hot 100 and remained his only entry there. Arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman, "More" featured what is probably the first appearance of the French electronic instrument the ondioline on an American recording. Although Winding was credited with playing the ondioline, guitarist Vinnie Bell, who worked on the session, claimed that it was played by Jean-Jacques Perrey, a pioneer of electronic music. Winding experimented with ensembles again, recorded solo albums, and one album of country music with the Anita Kerr Singers. He followed Creed Taylor to A&M/CTI and made more albums with J. J. Johnson. He was a member of the all-star jazz group The Giants of Jazz in 1971. His son, Jai Winding, is a keyboardist who has worked as a session musician, writer, and producer in Los Angeles. Kai Winding was taken to a hospital because of a recurring brain disease that he was informed about while in Yonkers, New York, and later died from complications in May 1983.
As leader/co-leader
As leader/co-leader
• Loaded (1945) • Kai Winding All Stars (Roost, 1949–51 [1952]) • Arrangements by Gerry Mulligan (1951) • Brass Fever (1956) • Trombone Panorama (Columbia, 1956) • The Trombone Sound (Columbia, 1956) • The Axidentals with the Kai Winding Trombones (ABC-Paramount, 1958) • The Swingin' States (Columbia, 1958) • Dance to the City Beat (Columbia, 1959) • The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones (Impulse!, 1960) • Kai Olé (Verve, 1961) • Brand New Swinging Together Again (1961) • Suspense Themes in Jazz (Verve, 1962) • The Great Kai Winding Sound (1962) • Soul Surfin (Verve, 1963) featuring Kenny Burrell – also released as!!!More!!! • Solo (Verve, 1963) • Kai Winding (Verve, 1963) • That's Where It Is (SESAC, 1963) • Mondo Cane No. 2 (Verve, 1964) • Modern Country (Verve, 1965) • Rainy Day (Verve, 1965) • The In Instrumentals (Verve, 1965) • Dirty Dog (Verve, 1966) • More Brass (Verve, 1966) • Penny Lane & Time (Verve, 1967) • Danish Blue (1974) • Caravan (Glendale, 1977) • Jazz Showcase (1977) • Lionel Hampton Presents Kai Winding (1977) • Duo Bones (Red, 1979) with Dino Piana • Giant Bones '80 (Sonet, 1980) with Curtis Fuller • Bone Appétit (Black & Blue, 1980) with Curtis Fuller • Trombone Summit (MPS, 1981) with Albert Mangelsdorff, Bill Watrous, Jiggs Whigham • In Cleveland 1957 (1994) With J. J. Johnson • The Four Trombones: The Debut Recordings (1953) • An Afternoon at Birdland (RCA, 1954) • Dec. 3, 1954 (Prestige, 1954) • Jay & Kai (Savoy, 1952–54 [1955]) • K + J.J. (Bethlehem, 1955) • Trombone for Two (Columbia, 1955) • Trombone by Three (Prestige, 1949 [1956]) • Jay & Kai + 6 (Columbia, 1956) • Dave Brubeck and Jay & Kai at Newport (Columbia, 1956) • Jay and Kai (Columbia, 1956) • The Great Kai & J. J. (Impulse!, 1960) • Israel (A&M/CTI, 1968) • Betwixt & Between (A&M/CTI, 1968) • Stonebone (A&M/CTI [Japan], 1969)
As sideman
As sideman
With Ralph Burns and Leonard Feather • Winter Sequence (MGM, 1954) With Quincy Jones • Quincy Jones Plays Hip Hits (Mercury, 1963) • Quincy Plays for Pussycats (Mercury, 1959–65 [1965]) • Walking in Space (1969) • I Heard That!! (1976) With Stan Kenton • Stan Kenton's Milestones (Capitol, 1943–47 [1950]) • Stan Kenton Classics (Capitol, 1944–47 [1952]) • Artistry in Rhythm (Capitol, 1946) • Encores (Capitol, 1947) • The Kenton Era (Capitol, 1940–54, [1955]) With King Pleasure • 1954: King Pleasure Sings/Annie Ross Sings • 1954: The Original Moody's Mood • 1955: King Pleasure With Pete Rugolo • Rugolomania (Columbia, 1955) • New Sounds by Pete Rugolo (Harmony, 1954–55, [1957]) With Zoot Sims • 1949: The Brothers • 1952: Zoot Sims All Stars • 1962: Good Old Zoot With Sarah Vaughan • 1955: In the Land of Hi-Fi • 1957: The George Gershwin Songbook, Vol. 1 • 1958: The Rodgers & Hart Songbook • 1965: ¡Viva! Vaughan With others • 1950: Carnegie Hall X-Mas '49, Charlie Parker • 1950: Chubby Jackson All Star Big Band, Chubby Jackson • 1951: The George Wallington Trio, George Wallington • 1954: Oscar Pettiford Sextet, Oscar Pettiford • 1955: This Is Chris, Chris Connor • 1955: Jumping with Ventura, Charlie Ventura • 1956: Drummer Man, Gene Krupa • 1957: Chris, Chris Connor • 1957: Birth of the Cool, Miles Davis • 1957: The Beat of My Heart, Tony Bennett • 1959: Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements, Gene Krupa • 1962: I Wanna Be Loved, Dinah Washington • 1962: Rhythm Is My Business, Ella Fitzgerald • 1962: Cabin in the Sky, Curtis Fuller • 1963: Any Number Can Win, Jimmy Smith • 1963: Broadway, Gerry Mulligan • 1964: New Fantasy, Lalo Schifrin • 1965: Jazz Dialogue, Modern Jazz Quartet • 1965: The Shadow of Your Smile, Astrud Gilberto • 1967: Prezervation, Stan Getz • 1968: Summertime, Paul Desmond • 1969: Chubby Jackson Sextet and Big Band, Chubby Jackson • 1971: The Giants of Jazz, with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk • 1972: Strictly Bebop, Dizzy Gillespie • 1973: The Art of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Modern Jazz Quartet • 1975: Chase the Clouds Away, Chuck Mangione • 1977: Featured with the Tadd Dameron Band, Fats Navarro • 1978: Children of Sanchez, Chuck Mangione • 1979: Giant Bones '80, Curtis Fuller • 1979: The New Mel Lewis Quintet Live, Mel Lewis

Portrait of Kai Winding, New York, N.Y.(?), ca. Jan. 1947 1 negative: b w; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.
William P. Gottlieb · This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Music Division under the digital ID gottlieb.09401. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A norma
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1922–1983
The full dated record · 4 entries
1922
Kai Winding born at Aarhus.
1959
The Axidentals With The Kai Winding Trombones (1959) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1966
Kai Winding – Dirty Dog (1966) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1983
Kai Winding died at Yonkers.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Aarhus.
Birth place
Yonkers.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q494976: Kai Winding
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Kai Winding”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Winding, Kai (1922-1983), jazz trombonist and composer, American National Biography Online, 2000
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2000
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Winding, Kai (1922-1983), jazz trombonist and composer, American National Biography Online, 2000Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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