Listening to & talking with Kenny Barron

I first heard Kenny Barron a few years ago while in New York for a jazz convention. I’d been told that Bradley’s in Greenwich Village was an ideal place to have a meal and listen to great live jazz.

Thus, dinnertime found me walking into the restaurant/club/neighborhood saloon. The first person I saw was the great bassist Red Mitchell, who was setting up his instrument. Kenny Barron soon joined him.

I was seated in the general vicinity of the piano with a table of non-English speakers to my right and a rather boisterous party to my left. Thus the announcement of Bradley’s “quiet policy” during performances fell upon deaf and uncomprehending ears.

To say that I was distressed was to put it mildly! Great music was being created a scant 10-feet away from me and I could barely hear it!

To my rescue came an observant waitress who asked if I wanted to move closer to the music. My enthusiastic reply resulted in my relocation to a small table literally at the foot of the piano. I had to duck my head down and peer under the open piano lid in order to see Barron as he worked.

I don’t recall the music that the duo played that evening. However, I do recall that every note was wonderful.

Several years later, after Bradley’s had closed; I was able to tell Kenny the above story while interviewing him in advance of a local performance by the group “Sphere.” Segments of that interview follow below.

While reading you may want to click on the link below to hear an early recording by Kenny Barron.

"Blue Monk" from the album Peruvian Blue

Talking with Kenny Barron is much like listening to his music. The pianist’s words are honest and grounded in a heartfelt modesty. Even Barron’s lifelong goals are, by his own admission, modest.

On the phone from his New York home the pianist described his goals in an almost casual manner, “My goal never really changed from when I was living in Philly and learning about music. What I wanted to do was just come to New York and play music. I never really thought beyond that.”

Under the group name “Sphere,” Barron, along with drummer Ben Riley, bassist Buster Williams and saxophonist Gary Bartz performed Sunday November 28, 1999 in Harrisburg, PA

Sphere, dedicated to continuing and preserving the music, and spirit of Thelonious Monk, was formed in 1979 by Barron, Riley, Williams and saxophonist Charlie Rouse.
They performed and recorded to the delight of fans and critics alike until Rouse’s untimely death in 1988.

“Sphere” remained just a fond memory for the three musicians and their fans for the next ten years. Then in 1998 the trio brought saxophonist Gary Bartz into the fold, recorded a highly acclaimed album for Verve and hit the road.

Barron is well aware of the importance to Jazz of groups like Harrisburg’s Friends of Jazz. He said, “Those organizations are really great. Not only do they provide a real place for us to work, but they also provide a place for people to hear the music. “

Well-traveled performer that he is, Barron finds what he termed “these little jazz organizations and jazz societies” in the most unexpected locales. He said, “they’re in the strangest places. That’s probably because they don’t have a lot of clubs and anything they want to happen, they have to make it happen.”

Places for jazz musicians to ply their craft continue to disappear. As Barron put it, “Most of the work we do is concerts and travelling overseas and that’s unfortunate. When I was with Dizzy Gillespie in 1963 we would be out on the road for three or four months, just working clubs. Now, in terms of a nightclub tour if you can book two weeks you’re doing good.”

Along with live performances, recordings are the lifeblood of a musician's career. Barron’s name can be found within the credits of many significant and important recordings in the jazz library.

When asked as to the number of his recording credits, the pianist confessed ignorance of the exact tally saying, “I think in terms of sideman dates I’ve been on at least 300, maybe 400 recordings. As a leader I’ve done maybe thirty or thirty five sessions.”

“Michael Fitzgerald, a former student of mine, put a discography of my recordings on the Internet. I didn’t even know it was out there until I was in Europe and somebody gave it to me. It was pretty large”