KENNY BARRON HAS BUILT A REPUTATION OF DELIVERING SOME OF THE MOST IMPECCABLE AND SUBLIME SWING KNOWN TO JAZZ. A MASTER OF THE TRIO FORMAT, HE’S FORGED HIS REPUTATION AS THE LAST PIANIST OF STAN GETZ’S QUARTET WHILE ALSO CREATING A SERIES OF CONCERT DUETS WITH THE SAX MASTER FOR HIS CLASSIC FINAL RECORDINGS ON PEOPLE TIME.
HE’S RECENTLY RELEASED AN ALBUM (CONCENTRIC CIRCLES) IN A QUINTET FORMAT, STILL HIS LONG TERM TRIO, BUT WITH THE ADDITION OF HORNS.
BARRON HAS ALSO AMASSED IN HIS CATALOGUE A SERIES OF SUBLIME DUET MEETINGS WITH THE LIKES OF DAVE HOLLAND, TOMMY FLANAGAN, CHARLIE HADEN AND JIM HALL, TO NAME JUST A FEW.
BECAUSE MR. BARRON HAS MASTERED HIS ART IN SO MANY DIFFERENT FORMATS, WE DECIDED TO MEET UP WITH HIM AND ASK HIM ABOUT THE ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES OF EACH CONFIGURATION.
SOME OF YOUR EARLY PLAYING WAS WITH YUSEF LATEEF. WHAT WAS SPECIAL ABOUT THAT GROUP THAT PRODUCED SO MANY JAZZ GREATS?
There was nothing in the water; it was just a commitment to the music.
LATEEF ENCOURAGED YOU TO GET A FORMAL MUSICAL EDUCATION AT A COLLEGE. WHAT WAS THE ADVANTAGE OF THAT?
It was good I did that, and I didn’t study piano. I went back to study composition and harmony. I had been playing piano for 20 years by that time.
LET’S TALK THROUGH THE VARIOUS SETTINGS YOU PERFORM IN, STARTING WITH SOLO. KENNY BARRON AT THE PIANO FROM 1980 WAS YOUR FIRST ONE. WHAT WAS THE SETTING FOR THAT?
The producer Don Schlitten asked me if I would be interested in doing something like that. It was a challenge, as I’d never recorded solo before. It was quite a challenge for me, and I think it worked.
YOU RECORD A LOT OF DUO ALBUMS. PEOPLE TIME WITH STAN GETZ IS A CLASSIC HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET UP WITH HIM?
Stan called me up to substitute for Chick Corea. He had a band with Stanley Clarke, and was playing a lot of Chick’s music for the Captain Marvel album.
About a year or two after that he started calling me more often to come out to California. He’d taken a teaching position at Stanford University, and he wanted me to come out to play concerts with him. After that I started working with him full time.
WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HIM AS A MUSICIAN AND AS A PERSON?
He’s just a beautiful player. There were all of these horror stories about Stan, and what a character he was, but a big part of that was due to his substance abuse. But, by the time I started working with him he had stopped all of that, so he was pretty cool and easy to work for. I had no problems.
He wasn’t drinking at all. He would actually go to AA meetings.
YOU WERE ON HIS LAST ALBUMS. WHAT ARE YOUR REFLECTIONS OF THEM IN RETROSPECT OF 20 YEARS?
They are all great records. Serenity and Anniversary actually come from one session and they were done for the Danish Radio.
HOW DID THE DUETS ON PEOPLE TIME GET FORMED?
They came about because many nights when we were playing we would actually end the show with a duo, usually with that song “People Time.” People kept asking afterwards “Why don’t you do a duo album?”
So Stan decided to do that; he got the same engineer and booked three nights at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, but he couldn’t finish the third night. It was because of his health; he kept saying that his stomach was on fire. As it later turned out he had a bleeding ulcer at that time, so it was pretty painful for him to play.
DID YOU HAVE ANY HINTS THAT IT WAS STAN’S FINAL DAYS?
I didn’t know if it was the beginning of the end, but I knew that he was quite ill. He died a few months later from the cancer that he had.
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“(Getz) gave his all. That’s all you can say about him”
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DO YOU EVER GO BACK TO LISTEN TO THEM?
I sure do; they’re on my ipod! It was great and fun to do them. He played his ass off; that’s all you can say about him. He gave his all.
YOU’VE ALSO DONE DUETS WITH DAVE HOLLAND, CHARLIE HADEN, JIM HALL, TOMMY FLANAGAN AND MANY OTHERS. HOW MUCH REHEARSING DO YOU DO ON THESE RECORDINGS?
It’s more like “let’s see what happens.” With Stan, it was just “Do you know this song, and this song and that song in this key?” and that was basically the rehearsal. We didn’t discuss anything ahead of time. Whatever we played once we sat down to play was up for grabs.
YOU HAVE TO BE GREAT AT LISTENING TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT!
Oh, yeah! (laughs) I have to listen to him and he has to listen to me, so it worked out great. It was pretty much the same with Charlie Haden and Dave Holland. With Dave, he didn’t know my music, so he had to learn my songs, so we did have to rehearse so he could learn the music. But, other than that, that’s all there was to it.
WHEN YOU TAUGHT AT RUTGERS, WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST THING YOU TRIED TO GET THE STUDENTS TO LEARN?
Number one is to listen to the music. One thing that I discovered is that most of the students had very narrow listening tastes. They only listened to people that they liked, people of their own generation. I wanted them to learn music beyond John Coltrane. An exception was (tenor saxist) Harry Allen, who was one of my students. He liked Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins as well as Scott Hamilton, so that’s what I tried to do.
WHICH PIANO PLAYERS HAVE INSPIRED YOU THE MOST?
Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones. I knew Ray Bryant very well; he’s my cousin by marriage.
AS FAR AS YOUR OWN QUARTETS, YOU HELPED FORM THE THELONIOUS MONK “TRIBUTE” BAND, SPHERE. HOW DID THAT TAKE PLACE?
I had been working with (drummer) Ben Riley, and we talked about adding another voice to our trio with (bassist) Buster Williams, and he recommended (tenor saxist) Charlie Rouse, who sounded great. So, we got a gig and played, and we were all a perfect fit.
At that time we hadn’t decided about just playing Monk, but we talked about it and since we had two guys that played with him we figured “Why not do that?”
SO MANY PEOPLE TRY TO PLAY HIS MUSIC, BUT SOMETHING IS USUALLY MISSING. WHAT’S THE TRICK TO PERFORMING MONK’S MATERIAL?
Probably the biggest difficulty is trying to get Monk out of your head. I mean, it’s very difficult to play a song of Monk’s without hearing him playing it, so it can border on imitation. So, you’ve got to be careful of that.
ONE OF YOUR FIRST JOBS AS A SIDEMAN WAS WITH DIZZY GILLESPIE. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?
It was great; he was not an intimidating person. He was very cool, easy to get along with. No ego; it was perfect.
ANYONE STICK OUT AS BEING A DIFFICULT TASKMASTER.
Everyone I’ve ever worked with has been cool. I’ve never had problems with any of them.
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“Probably the biggest difficulty (to playing Monk’s music) is trying to get Monk out of your head”
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YOUR LATEST ALBUM IS A QUINTET RELEASE WITH A LOT OF YOUR OWN COMPOSITIONS.
I tend to write more when I use horns. It’s still with my regular trio, but when you add horns you kind of have to. I the quintet because I like supporting other people. It’s fun to comp for other people, and have them influence me as well.
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’D PLAY IF IT WEREN’T PIANO?
I studied bass when I was in high school.
IT WOULD SEEM THAT YOUR FAVORITE SETTING IS TRIO, SINCE YOU HAVE SO MANY RELEASES IN THAT FORMAT
It actually doesn’t matter to me; solo is probably the hardest for me. That’s certainly the most challenging, but I love all of it.
ARE THERE ANY MUSICAL PROJECTS THAT YOU HAVEN’T DONE YET?
I’ve always wanted to do a record with strings. A ballad album with strings, pretty stuff. I’ve done it with other people, but I’d like to do it for myself.
YOU SEEM SO EASY TO GET ALONG WITH. ARE THERE ANY BOOKS, PEOPLE OR PHILOSOPHIES THAT HAVE INFLUENCED YOU?
Most of the people who I’ve worked with, that’s the way they were. I’ve been influenced by that; people like James Moody, Dizzy and Ron Carter, Yusef. They were all really nice people. The way they carried themselves and treated other people. You observe all of that.
I think that through osmosis anyone that works with me also gets that. My bass player Kiyoshi Kitagawa has been with me for over 20 years, and Johnathan Blake (when I can get him) has been with me for over 10.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR LEGACY TO BE?
I’d just like to leave behind a good body of music. That’s all. It’s all about the music.
WITH A CAREER OF OVER 50 YEARS, KENNY BARRON HAS CREATED A BODY OF WORK THAT REFLECTS HIS TIMELESS QUALITIES OF CLASS AND SWING. WHETHER IN SOLO, DUO, TRIO, QUARTET OR LARGER, BARRON HAS EXUDED CHARM AND SOPHISTICATION WHILE ALWAYS ABLE TO MIX SUBSTANCE AND STYLE, CARRYING THE TORCH OF SOPHISTICATED SWINGERS.