Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Some guys have all the luck, and Zev Feldman is a lucky guy. Imagine criss-crossing the world on a rogue yet holy mission to bring the music all back home, and listening to, for the first time, works of art as snazzy or as regal as "Up Jumped Spring," the second of six tracks on CD1 of the 2-CD / 2-LP set, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon.

Jazz has known its shamans: those few who roam among us, going toe-to-toe with the blues. And then there is Kenny Barron. A gentle man from all accounts, Barron has been the fulcrum where side one becomes side two and forward goes the torch. That his touch is touched by grace makes for a smooth handoff made even smoother with both bassist supremo Ray Drummond and the much-decorated Ben Riley on drums in the house.

And they are as pumped to get a jump on things as their pianist is, as "Oh, Look At Me Now," a certified chestnut back in 1995, and  "Up Jumped Spring"'s immediate predecessor, blithely attest. In these six hands—do the math: two hands per person times three—So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon becomes the smooth, rare gem all musicians strive to cut.

Like any human endeavor, there is a backstory, and collaboration is key. So just imagine as Barron, a man of humor and wisdom, Drummond, with his teacherly side, and Riley, Thelonious Monk's wing man, welcome in all 475 folk, thus packing the Brycheiniog Theatre on the grounds of the Brecon Jazz Festival, Wales ca. 1995, and create an evening of magic, of movement, and happy memory. 

Still in the baby years of their roughly 15-year trio run, Barron, Drummond, and Riley start on a high and ride the waves as So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon crests and crests with "Surrey With the Fringe On Top" and all its firework pace and popping groove. The romanticism of "Silent Rain." Eighteen minutes of Monk jauntily transpire in the solo highlight "Shuffle Boil" and harmonically revealing "Ask Me Why." Produced by Feldman and veteran Spanish promoter Jordi Suñol from original recordings housed in the Jordi Suñol Archives, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon is another feather in the cap of everyone involved.