I’ve long been a big fan of Kenny Barron. I last heard his trio – an edition with Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums – at Bergamo Jazz a few years ago, and it was a magisterial performance.
Born in Philadelphia in 1947, Barron has worked with stars including Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard, and co-founded the quartet Sphere, dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk.
Some might argue that Barron belongs to a rather well-mannered jazz piano tradition including Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan. I think he’s a more original player than those names. But his recordings, fine though they are, haven’t always done him justice.
This album, featuring Ray Drummond (bass) and Ben Riley (drums), certainly does. recorded by Rudy van Gelder, it’s one of his most compelling – along, I reckon, with Scratch, featuring Dave Holland and Daniel Humair.
As it’s Van Gelder, the audio is superb; even on my in-car stereo, the beautiful sound of Ben Riley’s drums is arresting from the start. Lemuria is a McCoy Tyner-ish piece that’s of its time – modal inconsequentialism, perhaps. Ask Me Now arises from the Sphere project. Fugii Mama is a Caribbean confection, while Slow Grind is a solo blues.
A beautiful release by one of the great living jazz pianists.
Discography
Lemuria; Ask Me Now; Sweet Lorraine; Fungii Mama; Slow Grind; Have You Met Miss Jones; Maria Isabel; You Go To My Head; The Magical Look In Your Eyes; Seascape (63.25)
Barron (p); Ray Drummond (b); Ben Riley (d). New Jersey, 17 January 1991.
Candid CCD 79508
