Two of the most elegant trios in modern jazz—The Kenny Werner Trio and the Hank Jones Trio-- will play a week-long double header at the Blue Note in Manhattan, January 18-23. This is a unique opportunity to hear two generations of piano genius on the same stage.

Hank Jones Trio
The Jones family of Pontiac, MI (by way of Vicksburg, MS) provided the world of jazz with three of its most revered performers, including trumpeter/composer Thad and legendary drummer Elvin. The only surviving, and eldest, brother Hank studied piano as a youngster, influenced by Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum. After playing in local bands as a teen, in 1944, he joined trumpeter Hot Lips Page in New York at the Onyx Club. Learning bop listening to local musicians and playing with the likes of Coleman Hawkins and Billy Eckstine, Hank Jones helped develop what came to be known as the "Detroit School" of piano, along with Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, and Sir Roland Hanna. Known for an elegant hard bop style, Jones was part of several Jazz at the Philharmonic tours, comping for Ella Fitzgerald and recording with Charlie Parker.

Jones freelanced for a while in the 1950s with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, and recorded with such artists as Lester Young, Milt Jackson, Cannonball Adderley, and Wes Montgomery before taking a job with CBS Studios in 1959. While serving in the band for radio and television for 17 years, Jones managed to continue touring and recording, and was the house pianist for the Broadway musical, "Ain't Misbehavin'" during the late 1970s. Through the late 1970s and the 1980s, Jones recorded prolifically as a soloist, in duos with other pianists (including Tommy Flanagan), and with various small groups, most notably the Great Jazz Trio—initially Ron Carter and Tony Williams, with Buster Williams, Eddie Gomez, Al Foster, and Jimmy Cobb joining over time. With his late brother Elvin on drums and Richard Davis on bass, Hank Jones and the Great Jazz Trio recorded one of the best ensemble jazz albums of 2004 Some Day My Prince Will Come (Sony).

Highly acclaimed over his 60+ year career, Hank Jones was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997. Noted David Rosenthal, "A musician of great flexibility, Hank Jones' exquisite sensitivity, and the refinement of his musical thinking, placed him high on everyone's list of favorite pianists." His compatriots at the Blue Note will include veterans George Mraz on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums.

Kenny Werner Trio

One of the idiom's most lyrical interpreters and composers, pianist Kenny Werner was born in Brooklyn and joined a children's song and dance group at age four. At age 11, he recorded a single with a fifteen-piece orchestra and played stride piano on television. Still in high school, he studied at the Manhattan School of Music, later becoming a classical piano major. His interest in improvisation led him to the jazz program at the Berklee School of Music. He began recording in the late 1970s, appearing on Charles Mingus' "Something Like a Bird." In the 1980s, Werner toured with Archie Shepp and the Mel Lewis Orchestra, worked in duo formats with Rufus Reid, Ray Drummond, and Jaki Byard, and performed solo concerns in Europe and New York. Over the years, Kenny Werner has performed and/or recorded with such luminaries as Bob Brookmeyer, Ron Carter, Joe Williams, Chico Freeman, Sonny Fortune, Peter Erskine, John Abercrombie, Bobby McFerrin, Lee Konitz, Billy Hart, Marian McPartland, Joe Henderson, Tom Harrell, Gunther Schuller, Ed Blackwell, Paul Motian, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Eddie Gomez, Dave Holland, Charlie Haden, Chris Potter, and Joe Lovano.

Three National Endowment of the Arts grants helped further his career as a composer and enabled him to present his compositions at Symphony Space in New York. He also wrote compositions for the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, which became the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. With Ratzo Harris and Tom Rainey, Werner spent 14 years experimenting with trio formats, and in the 1990s, this format became his main focus. Bob Blumenthal (Boston Globe) noted that Werner's ensemble "has provided an ever-evolving definition of the spontaneity that remains at the heart of jazz... unsurpassed as a working trio."

Kenny Werner is one of the most active educators in jazz today. He joined the faculty of the New School's jazz department in New York City in 1987, and gives clinics at many universities in the United States and abroad, as well as conducting private lessons. Now on the faculty of New York University, Werner has published many articles and books on music theory and performance. These days, in addition to teaching, he often plays in duet with Toots Thielemans and performs his own music, mostly with his current trio (Ari Hoenig on drums and German bassist Johannes Weidenmueller on bass) or with jazz orchestra and other large ensembles.

Hoenig and Weidenmueller have proved to be musical soul mates for Werner, even as they forge independent careers working with a long list of musicians in New York. Noted JazzHouston, "Hoenig and Weidenmueller...have a wonderful elastic quality in their playing...It's very much like hearing a modern day Tony Williams and Ron Carter.

Despite a list of acclaimed studio recordings, the success of Form & Fantasy (Double Time Records, 2001) and Beat Degeneration (Sunnyside, 2002), both culled from a live trio date from The Sunset Cafe in Paris, led Kenny Werner to decide "never to record a trio in the studio again. It just doesn't tell the story of the kind of great things that happen spontaneously on the bandstand when we have the resonance of people listening and watching." True to his word thus far, Werner and his trio released Peace on Half Note (2004), recorded live at the Blue Note in New York. Noted critic Bill Milkowski in his liner notes, "they've raised the bar with music that transcends notes, and communicates with passion, elegance, and love. It's the sound of three souls flowing to the same muse."

This is sure to be one of the best jazz bargains in New York or anywhere else. Two sets each night featuring both trios, 8 pm and 10:30 pm, tables $25. Reserve at www.bluenote.net