4/02/17:</br> Kenny Werner
There’s a pantheon of great jazz pianists and Kenny Werner belongs there.
Over 40 years of inventive piano with nearly as many albums. Composer, author and educator. His 1996 book now forms the basis of an Effortless Mastery Institute at Boston’s Berklee music school. Notable associations with Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Toots Thielemans, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Joyce Moreno and many others.
A longtime slamming trio with bassist Johannes Weidenmueller and drummer Ari Hoenig. Some of us saw them last year at Chris’. The house was packed. For good reason.
. . . tonally alluring, harmonically sophisticated and melodically inventive . . . . solos and accompanying passages of thrilling unpredictability. . . . A great Werner solo darts and dodges from one thought to the next with mercurial swiftness and ease . . .
Caught the “Coalition” project in at New York's Blue Note a couple of years ago. Riveting.
. . . there is no typical Kenny Werner project. The pianist-composer-improviser keeps veering forward in directions that challenge his listeners and himself. The consistent quality of his outings rewards remaining hot on his trail.
Beyond his virtuosic skill and prolific output is Kenny’s evolving philosophy and practice of getting out of his own way. The results are indisputable in their depth, range, originality and beauty.
I try to get lost in the sound and then I let the sound take over, and then things channel. Sometimes I have specific images; sometimes I just have feelings; sometimes it’s just getting high on the sound that’s happening, and letting that carry me. I like to feel that something is playing through me, not from me.
Kenny Werner will appear here solo in a very special Sunday afternoon salon. Expect magic. Like this video.
@exuberance parties at Matt’s are by invitation only to provide a dignified, comfortable and acoustically ideal setting for worthwhile art and ideas. Cellphones and other devices are to be holstered during the performances. Between sets, conviviality rules.