What a treat! My son and I are taking in a show by probably the last great jazz pianist at the wonderful Yardbird Suite.
Kenny Barron, (left) who accompanied the great Stan Getz (right) in his last years. Barron creates large musical worlds with his dynamic playing. (I would really like to meet him and maybe get my Stan-Kenny items signed, too.)
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After the Show
It is, to put it mildly and as humbly as possibly, an honour, privilege, and huge pleasure to meet a Great Artist in person and to see him perform. Barron plays completely unique, totally imaginative, dreamy, and unpredictable music. His surprises are never-ending, constantly delightful, and massively balanced and pleasurable. Multitudinous beautiful changes. The full extent of piano possibilities, moods, notes, tones, styles, and tastefulness. At 73, he is at the absolute pinnacle of his long, impressive career. I was totally gobsmacked that he has no plans for a live solo album!
It is not often anymore that I experience in person a Living Legend (about five yards away with a clear view of his hands and fingers on the keyboard), but sometimes the old luck clicks in and the timing is as fortunate as it can ever be. I later got the chance to be completely alone with him in the performer’s area afterward: magical timing–the guy who played incredibly with Stan Getz in his last years, a guy I would equate to The Beethoven of Jazz with wonderful splashes of Thelonious Monk and his sublime ‘outside’ dissonances. It does not get better than that; “you had to be there”. (My son had a great evening too, appreciating my call on the unexpected ticket, and how unspeakably fantastic Barron’s playing was.) And the aural bliss will continue with a 7 CD People Time which I just found out about yesterday and promptly ordered. Have I ever said before that I’ve been a Lucky Man?
(Barron’s handwritten 2nd show set-list, June 16, 2017, Yardbird Suite)