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Kenny Barron


Norm

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Over the last month or so I've been on a kick with jazz pianists...first Kelly, then Garland, and Monk. Just tonight, Bob Parloucha played a song on his late night show that caught my attention. It was a cover of "Night and Day" and can be found, so I learned, on Stan Getz's album, People Time. But what struck me, in my current piano-loving mode, was not Getz but rather the piano playing...I later learned that it was Kenny Barron. Never heard of this cat before, but he had a pretty sweet groove going. I'm going to have to keep my ears peeled for other stuff he's done.

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Over the last month or so I've been on a kick with jazz pianists...first Kelly, then Garland, and Monk. Just tonight, Bob Parloucha played a song on his late night show that caught my attention. It was a cover of "Night and Day" and can be found, so I learned, on Stan Getz's album, People Time. But what struck me, in my current piano-loving mode, was not Getz but rather the piano playing...I later learned that it was Kenny Barron. Never heard of this cat before, but he had a pretty sweet groove going. I'm going to have to keep my ears peeled for other stuff he's done.
There are at least three quartet CDs with Getz/Barron. Serenity, Anniversary, and Voyage. All are superb. As for Kenny Barron himself, he has so many recording credits---going back to Dizzy's big band when he was really young---I would be here all day and not finish. I really like Sambao, from the 90s on Verve. It has a lot of Brazilian type tunes he wrote (it has that theme) and a bonus is that it features one of my favorite musicians: Toninho Horta.

And People Time itself is masterful. Getz called Barron 'the other half of my heartbeat'

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Hi Norm

You are in for a great discovery, Kenny Barron is a great pianist, has been on the scene for many years and has made so

many recordings, both as leader and as sideman, younger brother of tenorplayer Bill Barron (who was a good friend of mine).

Listen to his solo (My Favorite) on "I Can't Started" from Getz Anniversary Album recorded here in Copenhagen on 6th of July, 1987 live at The Club Montmartre, I was there, one of my great moments.

Vic

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Here's three of my favorites:

The Artistry of Kenny Barron

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This CD represents an atypical chapter in pianist Kenny Barron's vast discography: a rare opportunity to record in an English nightclub (the Bass Clef) for an English record label (Wave). Recorded during a single evening in 1990, the veteran is joined by bassist Peter Ind and drummer Mark Taylor for six selections that are familiar to seasoned jazz musicians. Even though this was not a working trio, things gel very nicely and Barron happily stretches out each selection, with the shortest performance clocking in at just under nine minutes. Highlights include the breezy setting of "Like Someone in Love," the dramatic "Body and Soul," and a playful romp through two Thelonious Monk compositions "Rhythm-a-Ning" and a brisk "Well, You Needn't," with the latter showcasing Ind's fluid bass. This is one of Kenny Barron's lesser known CDs, but it is essential listening for anyone familiar with his music.

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  • 2 years later...

Here's wishing Kenny Barron a happy birthday. I've recently been enjoying his work with the Classical Jazz Quartet (Barron, Ron Carter, Stefon Harris and Lewis Nash).

Ron Carter - Piccolo is also a very good Kenny Barron album :):)

As is Ron Carter's Jazz Is My Romance, a trio date rounded out by Herb Ellis.

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Funny, I was just listening to Sphere earlier. I used to see them in the 80's, one of the great groups of the period. Barron also had a wonderful quintet back then featuring Eddie Henderson, John Stubblefield, Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis. He's made so many top-notch records, both as sideman and leader...

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I preferred Sphere with Bartz to Rouse. I saw them at Parc Floral in Paris on a very rainy day.

I beg to differ. Regardless of how they billed themselves, and no matter how great each of them was, with Bartz, they were just Bartz, Barron, Williams and Riley. With Rouse, they were Sphere.

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I beg to differ. Regardless of how they billed themselves, and no matter how great each of them was, with Bartz, they were just Bartz, Barron, Williams and Riley. With Rouse, they were Sphere.

In that case I prefer Bartz, Barron, Williams and Riley to Sphere. IMO, Bartz is the far more compelling sax player of the two.

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I beg to differ. Regardless of how they billed themselves, and no matter how great each of them was, with Bartz, they were just Bartz, Barron, Williams and Riley. With Rouse, they were Sphere.

In that case I prefer Bartz, Barron, Williams and Riley to Sphere. IMO, Bartz is the far more compelling sax player of the two.

Isn't!

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Kenny Barron is one of many favorite piano players. That duo album he did with Charlie Haden that was posted above is superb. A couple of others not mentioned (yet) are Wanton Spirit w/Haden and Roy Haynes, New York Attitude and Sambao, the latter a Brazilian flavored outing.

"Wanton Spirit" is also a favorite of mine. Highly recommended.

gregmo

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