Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Pianist Kenny Barron (b. 1943) has paid his dues, working in the bands of Yusef Lateef and Dizzy Gillespie as well as a three-year stint in trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's band. His work as a leader has also soared. His first album under his own name was titled You Had Better Listen (Atlantic, 1967). That title offered good advice.

As with most top-tier jazz artists who boast 50-plus-year careers, he has played thousands of concerts, and many of these have surely been recorded, only to be forgotten, the tapes shelved. So Zev Feldman—who so often finds and produces for release lost recordings from jazz giants past and present (saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianists Cecil Taylor, Ahmad Jamal, Mal Waldron and Bill Evans, multiple-reedman Yusef Lateef )—offers up a superb trio outing from Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live In Brecon.

The 2-disc set was recorded in 1995 at the Brecon Jazz Festival in Wales with his then-current trio—Ray Drummond on bass and drummer Bill Riley. The music sparkles for the duration of it 100-plus minutes.  Barron's sound has always had a classy sheen, in the manner of Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, or—to bring it up to a current player—Bill Cunliffe. 

Opening with "Oh, Look At Me Now, a 1940 Frank Sinatra vehicle written by Joe Bushkin, the trio's brio and ebullience is on full display. They sound playful and full of the joy of creation as they stretch out the tune to 11 minutes of 'let's see what happens' charm. This is followed up by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's "Up Jumped Spring," which sounds majestic and lighthearted before Barron strides into Thelonious Monk's "Shuffle Boil.

Most of the tunes here are extended pieces, the familiar—Ray Noble's  "The Very Thought of You," "Ask Me Now" (another Monk gem) and "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top"—stretched out while maintaining the threads of their original melodies. This is Barron, 30 years into a stellar career, playing at the top of his considerable power, accompanied by an exceptional trio. 

Barron's previously mentioned first recording was aptly titled, so is So Many Lovely Things.