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Editorial Reviews
Review
It would be quite a feat to have traveled in Kenny Barron's shoes. A venerable pianist whose career has spanned more than fifty years of performances with a host of greats Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Charlie Rouse and many others. His music has traveled across the paths of blues, bop, modern, and other terrains. Whether working with vocalists such as jazz diva, Abbey Lincoln or taking Brazilian music excursions in Canta Brasil (Sunnyside Records, 2002), Barron has covered a lot of ground and done so impressively.
The Traveler finds Barron once again on the move a colorful palette of ten tracks with excellent sounds featuring a new rhythm section (Japanese bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela) and some very special guests. From the start of the title track, Barron's still got the touch panache, grace, fire, and empathy. The result is a perfect portrait of his repertoire and depth.
The smooth soprano sax of Steve Wilson is present on thee selections delineated by quick and supple angularities. On Speed Trap he joins Barron's core group on a bopping swing-time caper, held tautly by Kitagawa's impeccable quick tempo bass-walk.
Guitarist Lionel Loueké, who is becoming increasingly visible these days, appears on three selections starting with Duet, a twisting improvisation duo-piece. His acoustic strings chase and interweave with Barron's exploring keys.
Barron's empathetic touch also glows warmly with fine singers Ann Hampton Callaway ( Clouds ) and Grady Tate ( Um Beijo ) delivering polished yet earthy lyrics imbued with passionate prose. Phantoms is another mesmerizing opening with Mela's chants and percussion, Loueké's unique guitarisms, and dark sensual singing by rising vocalist Gretchen Parlato, as Barron comps and delivers a superb free solo.
Added to the mix is the jubilant Calypso and an introspective and telling solo piano rendition of Eubie Blake's Memories of You to close this fine recording by one of jazz's most respected pianists.
- Mark F. Turner --Allaboutjazz.com
The Traveler finds Barron once again on the move a colorful palette of ten tracks with excellent sounds featuring a new rhythm section (Japanese bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela) and some very special guests. From the start of the title track, Barron's still got the touch panache, grace, fire, and empathy. The result is a perfect portrait of his repertoire and depth.
The smooth soprano sax of Steve Wilson is present on thee selections delineated by quick and supple angularities. On Speed Trap he joins Barron's core group on a bopping swing-time caper, held tautly by Kitagawa's impeccable quick tempo bass-walk.
Guitarist Lionel Loueké, who is becoming increasingly visible these days, appears on three selections starting with Duet, a twisting improvisation duo-piece. His acoustic strings chase and interweave with Barron's exploring keys.
Barron's empathetic touch also glows warmly with fine singers Ann Hampton Callaway ( Clouds ) and Grady Tate ( Um Beijo ) delivering polished yet earthy lyrics imbued with passionate prose. Phantoms is another mesmerizing opening with Mela's chants and percussion, Loueké's unique guitarisms, and dark sensual singing by rising vocalist Gretchen Parlato, as Barron comps and delivers a superb free solo.
Added to the mix is the jubilant Calypso and an introspective and telling solo piano rendition of Eubie Blake's Memories of You to close this fine recording by one of jazz's most respected pianists.
- Mark F. Turner --Allaboutjazz.com
Product Description
To understand the caliber of the man, it's enough to contemplate the long list of exceptional musicians who have availed themselves of his services during his career, a career lasting some fifty years: from Chet Baker to Freddie Hubbard via Joe Henderson, Abbey Lincoln, Helen Merrill, Chico Freeman, George Benson, Yusef Lateef, Lee Konitz, James Moody or Dizzy Gillespie... Barron, like such other keyboard-legends as Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, belongs to the aristocracy of the great jazz pianists, musicians who succeeded in taking the accompanist's art to its highest degree of finesse and distinction.
But Kenny Barron wouldn't have become the immense musician he is today if he'd been content to remain in his role as an impeccable sideman, a pianist of faultless elegance ranging over most of the styles which, from the most orthodox be-bop to post-Coltrane modal jazz not to mention sophisticated "post bop" à la Herbie Hancock , have marked the history of modern jazz these last few decades. In the company of tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, Barron founded the group Sphere, a virtuoso formation dedicated exclusively to the repertoire of Thelonious Monk; he has also enjoyed lengthy partnerships with such musicians as Ron Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, and particularly Stan Getz, whom he "seconded" in the latter's greatly moving swansong from 1987 to 1991. Over the years, Kenny Barron has asserted himself as an extraordinary catalyst for musicians of talent, precisely because he always knew how to serve those he accompanied: imperceptibly, he brought them to deliver themselves, allowing them to explore those emotional zones to which, without him, they would probably have never come close...
These rare qualities of his, inextricably mingled with empathy and soft persuasion, were perhaps never better tested than in the series of remarkable albums that have appeared on Verve under Barron's name since the mid-Nineties. Whether in a classic piano/bass/drums trio-format (with Roy Haynes & Charlie Haden, or Ben Riley & Ray Drummond), or especially more recently, in more original and sophisticated orchestral settings (cf. the delicate atmospheres he developed in his wonderful record Images in 2005), in recent years Kenny Barron has continuously added more evidence testifying to his enormous talents as a composer and arranger, establishing more strongly than ever the formal contours of a personal world that is not only firmly anchored in tradition, but has subtle audacity.
The Traveler, in this sense, merely extends and deepens the intuitions laid down by his predecessors. It is likely, however, that Kenny Barron never went as far as he does here in expressing a sort of elaborate aesthetic of understatement with a virtuosity that is paradoxical: he reaches the limits of eclipse.
But Kenny Barron wouldn't have become the immense musician he is today if he'd been content to remain in his role as an impeccable sideman, a pianist of faultless elegance ranging over most of the styles which, from the most orthodox be-bop to post-Coltrane modal jazz not to mention sophisticated "post bop" à la Herbie Hancock , have marked the history of modern jazz these last few decades. In the company of tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, Barron founded the group Sphere, a virtuoso formation dedicated exclusively to the repertoire of Thelonious Monk; he has also enjoyed lengthy partnerships with such musicians as Ron Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, and particularly Stan Getz, whom he "seconded" in the latter's greatly moving swansong from 1987 to 1991. Over the years, Kenny Barron has asserted himself as an extraordinary catalyst for musicians of talent, precisely because he always knew how to serve those he accompanied: imperceptibly, he brought them to deliver themselves, allowing them to explore those emotional zones to which, without him, they would probably have never come close...
These rare qualities of his, inextricably mingled with empathy and soft persuasion, were perhaps never better tested than in the series of remarkable albums that have appeared on Verve under Barron's name since the mid-Nineties. Whether in a classic piano/bass/drums trio-format (with Roy Haynes & Charlie Haden, or Ben Riley & Ray Drummond), or especially more recently, in more original and sophisticated orchestral settings (cf. the delicate atmospheres he developed in his wonderful record Images in 2005), in recent years Kenny Barron has continuously added more evidence testifying to his enormous talents as a composer and arranger, establishing more strongly than ever the formal contours of a personal world that is not only firmly anchored in tradition, but has subtle audacity.
The Traveler, in this sense, merely extends and deepens the intuitions laid down by his predecessors. It is likely, however, that Kenny Barron never went as far as he does here in expressing a sort of elaborate aesthetic of understatement with a virtuosity that is paradoxical: he reaches the limits of eclipse.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Never Tired,
By
This review is from: The Traveler (Audio CD)
As usual Kenny Barron comes with a solid output. Since the first time you hear this one, you immediately conclude you are in front of a great record. Steve is incredible right from the first blow and Hampton Callaway's voice is so tasty that you only wonder why she didn't try another one with such musicians around. With Kenny around 65 it's great to hear such a refresh and of course recommendable production.
4.0 out of 5 stars
ECLECTICISM,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Traveler (Audio CD)
Kenny Barron's TRAVELER lived up to its title. The cover was the absolute best, evethougha bit cliched. The dedication to his wife and family (liner notes) were small in print but big in love and praise. Kenny took the listerner to many parts of himself as The Traveler. I could have done without the vocals on CLOUDS. Grady Tate is not known for being a singer, per se. Scatman, yes. But there was a sincerity and tenderness as he sang. I thought I heard African beats and vocals at one point. His sidemen were fantastic. Kiyoshi Kitagawa took care of bizness on a bass solo. But they were all terrific. All in all, Kenny Barron took the listener on a fantastic jazz voyage round his world. Thank you!
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