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Featured Release Kenny Barron

Title: The Traveler

About: Propelled by a new rhythm-section of extraordinary cohesion that features Kenny's loyal Japanese bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and the young Cuban drummer Francisco Mela who explodes in every bar with inventiveness and elegance, The Traveler is an album of original ballads that are both timeless and subtly new. Barron is accompanied varyingly by soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson (a partner of Chick Corea in the group Origins) and by a galaxy of exceptional singers, both male and female, who cover the whole stylistic range of contemporary vocal jazz.

While Greg Tate suavely resuscitates the crooners' tradition of Nat King Cole and Johnny Hartman, Gretchen Palato's sensual, softly-treading voice borrows from both the Afro-American tradition and Brazilian music. Elsewhere, Ann Hampton Callaway proves herself to be a flamboyant stylist at the farthest reaches of jazz and great American pop.

Rejoining him in the closing chapters of the record is new guitar-prodigy Lionel Loueke and with all his senses on the alert, Barron allows the mood of the album to drift unnoticeably towards other, more sensually contemporary territories.

This provides perhaps the finest example of the incredible adaptability that is still the heart of his genius: the unique way he allows himself to be carried into the universe of the musicians he accompanies without ever losing his ownership of the music.

Composers:

Artist(s): Kenny Barron

Label: (P) 2008 Universal Music Jazz France

Catalogue Number: 5307530

£7.90