Kenny Barron - Beyond This Place (2024) Artwork Records [FLAC|Lossless|image + .cue] <Post-Bop>

This delightfully wide-ranging jazz quintet album from Kenny Barron opens with a delicate reading of Washington and Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You” and closes with a brisk sax and piano duet cover of Thelonious Monk’s “We See”. There is a nod to the Jazz Messengers with drummer Jonathan Blake’s composition “Blues on Stratford Road”, and drums and piano rampage through an unusually taut duet version of “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise”.
But the body of the album, and indeed its subtle emotional range, comes from the five Barron originals that span the breadth of the pianist’s 50-plus-year career. “Sunset”, released on Muse in 1973, was the first track on Barron’s debut solo album Sunset to Dawn. Back then it was interpreted through swirls of resonant Fender Rhodes, but here an acoustic band get to the essence of the tune’s prowling melody and sinuous left-hand groove.
In contrast, new composition “Scratch” delivers Monk-like dissonance and the quintet push the pulse to the edge of abstraction. The Latin-inflected “Innocence”, the title track of a 1978 album, still broods in a minor modal key, whereas “Tragic Magic”, a recent homage to the late pianist Tommy Flanagan, romps over pulsating walking-bass swing. Adding an extra layer, the easy-going warmth of this album’s title track hovers sensuously above ballad tempo.
Album cover of ‘Beyond This Place’ by Kenny Barron
The leader’s regular rhythm section, bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummer Blake, flesh out the narrative details and embellish each soloist’s move. Barron’s svelte voicings and urbane excellence always engage, as do the experienced vibraphonist Steve Nelson’s focus and flow. Both musicians get inside compositions, capture their mood and expand their narrative thread.
But the highlights come when the 26-year-old alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins combines with Barron, who turns 81 this year. Wilkins’s pithy warmth weaves into the pianist’s delicate voicings at the start of the album and his playful angularity sets Barron on his way at its close. In between, Wilkins completes a mellow band sound as he fleshes out the blues, unpicks harmonic layers and dovetails neatly with Nelson’s vibes. (Mike Hobart)

Kenny Barron - piano
Johnathan Blake - drums
Kiyoshi Kitagawa - bass
Steve Nelson - vibes
Immanuel Wilkins - alto saxophone

Recorded at Midi Live Studio on February 25-26, 2023.