Kind of Kenny

"... a heartfelt tribute to Kenny Wheeler featuring inspired, compassionate guitar soloing by the leader and John Stowell. The intricate and intuitive interplay... brings to mind the pivotal collaborations between Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie." This is what you can read about the present album in the Minor 7th Acoustic Guitar Magazine. To anticipate it, although this album is a homage to trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler, the release does not focus solely on trumpet passages, but opens up to the interpretation of Wheeler's work thanks to Jason Keiser and John Stowell. Both of the musicians mentioned play various guitars, including the rarely played fretless baritone guitar. We also hear vowels like in "Gentle Piece". The voice is instrumental and not lyrical or epic recitations.

It opens with "Kind of Kenny", a composition by Jason Keiser. The vocalist can also be heard, who accompanies the melody of the composition onomatopoeically alongside the guitar and trumpet. So Danielle Wertz becomes part of the instrumentation with her voice. The sequences on the stringed instruments integrated into the composition are almost reminiscent of classical guitar music. It has something of a tonal fineness. In addition, however, you can also hear the trumpeter Erik Jekabson. But the sound lines of the string instrumentalists remain in the memory for a long time. With "Hotel Le Hot", a composition by Kenny Wheeler can be heard, strongly influenced by the two guitarists of the ensemble. In some passages, you have to think of "Friday Night in San Francisco". The interplay between the trumpeter and the saxophonist Michael Zilber is also very successful. He goes so far as to make convoluted paraphrasing and picks up on what the guitarists have played before. Jason Keiser, it seems, then grabs the strings and spins the melodic thread further. But the "trumpet voice in the spirit of Wheeler" also finds a space to develop again and again.

The album continues with "Kayak". The trumpet and flugelhorn are also quite formative ensembles, if you compare the arrangement with the previously mentioned pieces. The guitarists become more like accompanists, even if we experience a very finely balanced guitar solo in the further course. That ties in with baroque etudes and the like, doesn't it? At the end, the trumpet voice rises once again, bringing Wheeler into focus in terms of sound.

The homage to the Canadian trumpeter continues with the composition by Jason Keiser called "Wheeler's Waltz" - a title with a similar name is also available by Kenny Barron (!). He was, it should be inserted, a member of the legendary jazz-rock band United Jazz + Rock Ensemble, none of whose original line-up is still on the jazz stage. In this piece, Danielle Wertz shows her vocal finesse, not to mention the lyrical passages of the trumpeter and the saxophonist around the bandleader Jason Keiser. "Kind Folk" captivates with the melange of flugelhorn voice and string sound. It is soft focus that makes up the piece, even if trumpet sequences become more dominant as it progresses. And then you can also hear the breathy onomatopoeia of Danielle Wertz, which flash briefly here and there. And at the end of the album, an alternative version of "Wheeler's Waltz" is heard. The duo of the two guitarists of the ensemble is very worth listening to. Conclusion: In view of the dominance of the saxophone in jazz, the present album is a revelation, so to speak, as the sound space opens up around the two guitar voices and the vocal colorations of Danielle Wertz.

Translated from German