Kenny Werner

Born November 19, 1951, in Brooklyn, New York, Kenny Werner launched his piano career at an unusually young age. By eleven he had already cut a single backed by a fifteen-piece orchestra and performed stride piano on television. While still attending high school he studied at the Manhattan School of Music, switching to a concert-piano major after graduation. Jazz soon exerted its pull; he left Manhattan for Boston’s Berklee School of Music, where teachers Madame Chaloff and Juão Assis Brasil, both accomplished pianists, guided him toward a synthesis of spiritual depth and technical command.

His debut jazz album appeared in 1977, an LP devoted to solo piano interpretations of works by Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson, and George Gershwin. Shortly afterward he joined Charles Mingus for the recording Something Like a Bird. In 1981 Werner issued his first collection of original compositions, Beyond the Forest of Mirkwood; the following year brought 298 Bridge Street, a suite prompted by the street sounds outside his Brooklyn studio. Extensive touring marked the early eighties, encompassing engagements with Archie Shepp and the Mel Lewis Orchestra as well as duo performances alongside Rufus Reid, Ray Drummond, and Jaki Byard. Two National Endowment for the Arts grants, awarded in 1985 and 1987, enabled him to present his own music in concert-hall settings at Symphony Space. Throughout the decade he also worked with Ratzo Harris and Tom Rainey; their trio documented its partnership on the 1988 release Introducing the Trio, issued one further album, and remained active until 1995. In 1987 Werner joined the faculty of the New School.

During the eighties and nineties he collaborated with an array of distinguished figures that included John Abercrombie, Joe Henderson, Tom Harrell, and Chico Freeman. His closest partnership developed with Joe Lovano, yielding multiple recordings, while he simultaneously served as pianist, arranger, and musical director for Broadway vocalist Betty Buckley. Additional NEA support arrived in 1993 and 1995, funding tribute concerts honoring Mel Lewis and Duke Ellington.

A sequence of well-received albums followed on the Concord Jazz label: Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Vol. 34; Concord Duo Series, Vol. 10; and Live at Visiones, each of which garnered awards and broadened his audience. Two further projects appeared in 1998—A Delicate Balance, featuring Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, and Unprotected Music on the Double-Time label, performed by a trio with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron—both illustrating Werner’s stylistic range and ensemble sensibility. Beauty Secrets, issued by RCA in 2000, offered a refined yet inventive showcase of his lyrical touch. Activity continued into the new century with the 2010 Half Note release No Beginning No End, reuniting him with Joe Lovano and Judi Silvano. The following year he recorded Balloons: Live at the Blue Note with trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist David Sanchez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Antonio Sánchez. Me, Myself & I, a solo-piano set captured live at Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill during the Montreal Jazz Festival, reached stores in spring 2012.