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Kenyy Werner Trio at the Green Mill 9/22-23 |
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Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
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Sunday, 10 September 2006 |
 Kenny Werner © William Claxton
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 Trio
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."
Pianist Kenny Werner with bassist Johannes
Weidenmueller and drummer Ari Hoenig perform at the Green Mill in Chicago
September 22nd and 23rd. For more information wisit
greenmilljazz.com and
kennywerner.com |
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 Tuesday, 02 December 2008
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