Kenny Werner

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Kenny Werner at the INNtöne Jazzfestival 2016

Kenny Werner (born November 19, 1951 in Brooklyn ) is an American jazz musician ( piano , composition ).

Act

Werner attended the Manhattan School of Music and in 1970 moved to the Berklee College of Music . In 1977 he recorded his first LP with music by Bix Beiderbecke , Duke Ellington , James P. Johnson and George Gershwin , and in the same year the album Something Like a Bird with compositions by Charles Mingus . In 1981, Beyond the Forest of Mirkwood was his first solo album with his own compositions.

In 1981 Werner founded his first own trio with Ratzo Harris and Tom Rainey . He also performed frequently with Archie Shepp in the early 1980s ; In 1984 he became a member of the Mel Lewis Orchestra . He also worked with the bands of Eddie Gomez , Tom Harrell and Joe Lovano and in duo formations with Rufus Reid , Ray Drummond and Jaki Byard . Since 1995 he has performed in a duo with Toots Thielemans , also as a trio with Oscar Castro-Neves and as a quartet with Airto Moreira . Werner presented a number of solo and trio albums in the 1990s, including for the Concord Jazz label , which received awards and were also commercially successful. In 1998, two albums were released in different trio constellations, which also document his stylistic diversity. He has also been the pianist, arranger and musical director of actress and singer Betty Buckley since 1998 .

In 1999 Werner founded a new trio with Ari Hoenig and Johannes Weidenmüller , which also became the core of larger ensembles; In 2007 he worked with Bobby Selvaggio . On the album No Beginning No End, he mourned the loss of his daughter, who died in a car accident in 2006; Joe Lovano and Judi Silvano acted as soloists in the work for large orchestra, which is based on classical Western and Indian music and jazz . On the album Balloons: Live at the Blue Note he played with Randy Brecker , David Sánchez , John Patitucci and Antonio Sánchez . A solo concert from the Montreal Jazz Festival was released as Me, Myself & I in 2012 .

Werner composed and arranged for the Mel Lewis Orchestra as well as for large European formations such as the WDR Big Band , the Danish Radio Big Band and the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra as well as the Dutch Metropole Orkest . In Erwin Wagenhofer's film But Beautiful - Nothing Exists Independently (2019), he is portrayed alongside Lucia Pulido and Mario Rom .

In 1996 Werner published the textbook Effortless Mastery ; he gives workshops and teaches at New York University .

Discography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kenny Werner: A Musical Expression of Grief (Jazztimes)
  2. ↑ No Beginning No End at Allmusic (English)
  3. ↑ New film: But Beautiful
  4. ↑ Meeting (Jazzthing)
personal data
SURNAME Werner, Kenny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (piano, composition)
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn