Search - Kenny Werner :: Beauty Secrets

Kenny Werner, American musical treasure

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 06/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some jazz pianists just seem to have magic in their hands. They have this incredible ability to make the keys s(w)ing effortlessly. Bill Evans was one. So are Keith Jarrett and Jacky Terrasson.To put Kenny Werner in such company may seem an overestimation, but I don't think so. Just listen to his incredible playing on Beauty Secrets, his major label debut. The piano veritably dances in his hands. Opening with four trio numbers, he covers ground that anyone familiar with his work will immediately recognize: The beguiling beauty and ebullient frolic of "With a Song in My Heart"; the jaunty bounce of "Scuffin'," with its boppish single-note piano lines and the masterful drumming of Billy Hart; the delicacy of "Beauty Secrets," my favorite cut; and the Monkish/bloozy feel of "Jackson Five," with an intro every bit as tricky as the master's "Evidence."Things change rather radically on the next cut, "A Walk in the Park," a duet with Joe Lovano, whose richness of tone and ease of execution of even the trickiest unison lines amazes. Such a glorious and revelatory piece makes one wish for an entire album of Werner/Lovano duets (which would certainly be much more satisfactory than his duet outing with Gonzalo Rubalcaba). Sandwiched between another remarkable W/L duet comes a quintet number featuring all new players save the leader. These young lions (Tony Malaby, sax; Dave Ballou, trumpet; Doug Weiss, bass; and Ari Hoenig, drums) rip through this dense post-bop number as if it were the merest trifle. Along the way, Werner not only plays a stunning solo but throws off some of the more amazing comping I've ever heard. Once again, it would be wonderful to hear an entire album of this music.As if his ideas are nearly inexhaustible, he shifts gears again, this time on a quartet outing with the inimitable Mark Feldman on violin. Certainly the premier jazz violinist of his generation, Feldman gives a spookily virtuoso reading of the exotic tune "Goblins," also featuring some amazing drum coloration from Hart. It's back to the trio format for the tongue-in-cheek "Little Appetites," sounding like the theme music to a lost Peter Sellers spy spoof, with that same mesmeric chooo-chu-cha-chooo rhythm. Opinions will likely differ about the success of two of the last three numbers. "Send in the Clowns" features the unique vocal talents of Betty Buckley. There's no question she can sing, but her appearance on an otherwise instrumental outing is, initially, at least, somewhat jarring. One wonders why this number was included. There's no question about the success of the ravishingly beautiful number, "You Make Me Sing," with its deceptively simply melody, wonderfully recalling the beauty of his early gem of a disc, Uncovered Heart.The last number, which is obviously close to the artist's heart, presents a major challenge for this listener. Featuring a spoken "poem"--and I use the word generously--that meanders to and fro all the time meditating about where music comes from, etc., taking up about the first two and a half minutes of the nearly over twelve minute piece, it morphs into a string trio passage, then a short piano and strings section, and finishes with the basic trio plus strings interacting quite interestingly. Although there are passages of real beauty here, the whole thing, apparently meant to be some kind of Major Statement about how artists access and present the music they play, seems rather bloated. Someone close to Kenny really should've encouraged him to either drop this piece altogether or at least cut it down to size and lose the overblown philosophic flatulence.Despite the problems in the last quarter of the album, I'm not going to subtract even a half star because there's so much marvelous music on the rest of it. And anyway, you can always program out the less successful material. Plus, any stars subtracted are more than made up for by the musical adventurousness, generally pulled off brilliantly."

Werner is a brilliant musician! but this CD is a bit much!

John M. Herrmann | Richmond, Va | 07/18/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"80% of CD is wonderful, however, Werner verbalizes on the life-dance-freedom idea of "Music from the Space," the last track and a 12-minute-plus romp through introspection, orchestral notions with amplified strings. The CD looses me here - truly an adventurous spirit is present but too adventurous for my taste."