Ken Fary

Born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in nearby Gloucester County, Ken was exposed to jazz in high school, and was soon convinced he wanted to be a musician. He ended up in central Indiana in his early twenties, after a short career playing in a rock band. He found himself in Terre Haute, and studied for a time with Harry Miedema who introduced him to Indy's great piano masters, Claude Sifferlin and Steve Allee. A short time later, Ken relocated to Indianapolis to study with Claude and he began working right away. As he developed his playing through Ken also discovered a talent for finding work early on. He talked his way into a gig at the Greenhouse restaurant shortly after arriving in town, and played there for 5 years, through the late 80's. This gig was an education, as he joined with the best players in town playing jazz music 3 nights a week and solo piano on other nights. Great horn players like Pookie Johnson, Russell Webster and Jimmy Coe would come by to sit in and the list of great drummers and bassists who played the gig is just as impressive.

Through the 90's, Ken began contracting for musicians at hotels, always busy playing for a living, but also playing late night gigs and jam sessions to stretch out on creative music. He was a staple at the Chatterbox throughout the decade playing with Dick Dickinson, Mad Harold Cardwell, Joe Deal, Dave Morgan and many others. He continued playing at the 'Box until Covid hit.

Starting in the late '90s, Ken began playing at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on a gig that lasted the best part of 20 years, and again allowed him to play with all of the area's best jazz musicians. Ken used the opportunity to further his already extensive knowledge of the jazz songbook by learning more and more material. As a result, Ken has an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz tunes and standards and a true love of and commitment to accompaniment as an art form. He always does his best to make singers and horn players sound their best, and his crisp, poppin' eighth note feel always brings a swinging forward motion to the bandstand. He considers a Sunday night stint at Rick's Café to be a career high point due to the quality of the music and the scene that developed around this gig. While Ken has spent considerable time teaching as well, he's made his way by playing gigs. Always playing gigs. Ken Fary hustles.