The cultured piano style of Kenny Barron has perceptively
informed scores of albums since his recording debut with his older
brother, tenor saxophonist Bill Barron in 1961.
Born in Philadelphia on June 9th 1943 he started
on the piano at age 12 and was later tutored by Ray Bryant. After
some experience in the R & B field he joined Philly Joe Jones
at 16. In 1962 he was in the Dizzy Gillespie group and stayed
until 1966, replacing Lalo Schifrin. Touring with Diz brought
him international attention and he was soon working with the likes
of Freddie Hubbard (1970-75), Yusef Lateef (1976) and then Ron
Carter (unil 1980).
He has been a full time instructor at Rutgers University,
teaching theory, keyboard harmony and piano.
His work with the late Stan Getz was probably the
most demanding and fruitful, he replaced Chick Corea in the Getz
quartet for a short while and then again he was a member for two
years (1984-86), and after a short break again in 1987 for a European
tour with Victor Lewis and Rufus Reid. The last tour he did with
Stan was in March of 1991, this was to be the last tour for Stan,
and a recording done at the Cafe Montemartre in Copenhagen as
a duo is one of the best jazz recordings available.