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Kenny Werner: The Space

By Dan McClenaghan
November 5, 2018
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Let's ruminate on the state of jazz piano in the year 2018. It is a rich time, when perhaps a dozen hugely talented artists have reached the peaks of their artistry.

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett,

Marc Copland

piano
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Marc Copland,

Brad Mehldau

piano
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Brad Mehldau,

Bobo Stenson

piano
b.1944

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobo Stenson,

Denny Zeitlin

piano
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Denny Zeitlin,

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Hersch and a handful more are creating some of the richest and most beautiful and original sounds imaginable with eighty-eight keys. Geniuses all.

With a perhaps lower profile among this exclusive group is

Kenny Werner

piano
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Werner, who might be called a musician's musician. Born in 1951, Werner proved early on to be a prodigy, recording with a fifteen piece orchestra at eleven years of age. Scores of albums have followed, including—to fast forward into the new millennium—The Melody (Pirouet Records, 2015), a trio affair that proved to be one of that year's top jazz albums. Like Marc Copland and

Frank Kimbrough

piano
1956 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Kimbrough, his goal seems to be the creation of pure beauty with every note he plays. It's a goal he has achieved here, with The Space.

The Space is a solo piano outing, a celebration of, in Werner's words ..."being in the moment, content with what is." With this "Zen-ish" approach to creating sound, Werner offers up three graceful, sometimes playful originals and covers of tunes by Keith Jarrett ("Encore From Tokyo"), Michel Legrand ("You Must Believe in Spring"), and a pair of tunes from saxophonist

Jason Seizer

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Seizer, the set's engineer/producer.

It would be hard to find an album the begins more perfectly. "The Space" is sixteen minutes of the most enchanting music imaginable, a suite of sorts that brims with an off-kilter elegance and a deeply introspective ardor. This sets the album's template, the floating from the original tunes to the familiar with a delicacy and deftness of touch, closing out with Werner's "Fall From Grace," a dark-hued, grey diamond of a tune that pulls the curtain on the set with a somber but absolutely gorgeous note.

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Track Listing

The Space; Encore from Tokyo; Fifth Movement; You Must Believe In Spring; Taro; Kiyoko; If I Should Lose You; Fall from Grace.

Personnel

Kenny Werner

piano

Kenny Werner: piano.

Album information

Title: The Space | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Pirouet Records

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