At first, Kenny Barron was only known as sax player Bill Barron's younger brother, but eventually he developed into one of the most versatile and sensitive pianists of the old school. The fact that Barron took piano lessons with the sister of another great pianist, Ray Bryant, goes to show how small the jazz world really is. In 1957 Barron became a professional musician in Mel Melvin's orchestra, a band in which his brother also played. After short engagements with Philly Joe Jones and Yusef Lateef, his brother took him along to another orchestra: Ted Curson's. Kenny Barron turned out to be an ideal accompanist: if his bosses wanted him to, he could play like Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner or Oscar Peterson. Which is why he was never out of work: between 1961 and 1987 he played on more than 70 records. Especially as sax player Stan Getz' accompanist, he had more and more opportunity to develop his own style, one related to masters such as Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan. This summer Kenny Barron is presenting his group Canta Brasil, with whom he elaborates on the Brazilian roots he explored before with Stan Getz.
