Though not a household name like Thelonious Monk or Ahmad Jamal, pianist Kenny Barron is undeniably one of the greats, an impossibly skilled technician with a great feel and a style very much his own. Despite an enviable catalog, an eager audience, and a miles-deep knowledge of jazz standards, Barron has rarely released live albums, so it’s always nice to find one on the racks, no matter from what era it comes.
So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon hails from the Brecon Jazz Festival in Wales in 1995, with the maestro backed by late bass ace Ray Drummond (the pianist’s then-current bottom holder) and former Monk/Sonny Rollins drummer Ben Riley (who worked with Barron in the Monk-centric Sphere). The experience and respect these peers have with and for each other shines through in the first notes of the standard “Oh Look at Me Now,” so we know we’re in for a good time. Check out the band’s easy touch on Barron’s “Nikara’s Song” – it sounds less like a tune out of a Hollywood movie scene that takes place in a jazz club, than the song from which all those scenes would take inspiration. Or lay your ears on the trio’s take on Freddie Hubbard’s “Up Jumped Spring,” an energetic romp on which the sense of comradery is palpable. Even the, shall we say, well-traveled standards “The Very Thought of You” and “Surrey With the Fringe On Top” come alive in the hands of these gifted veterans.
As good as everything here is, though, there’s something special about hearing Barron play unaccompanied, and he gives us a pair of nuggets in that regard with Monk’s “Shuffle Boil” and his own “Silent Rain.” That speaks to Barron’s truly remarkable facility with jazz. Add in the contributions of Drummond and Riley, and we get an in-concert record not only for devoted Barron fans, but devoted jazz fans as well.
