Kenny Werner – Me, Myself & I
“On June 28th and 29th, 2011 I did two nights at the jazz club Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill for the Montreal Jazz Festival. I don t usually have a great time playing solo. I m one who really likes to react to the other musicians. So in playing solo there s no one to react to. But these nights the ideas just kept flowing. I was feeling so good playing that I mentioned to the owner of the club, Joel Giberovitch that I was curious as to what the recording sounded like. I said that if the music was as good as I felt it might be that I would be open to a releasing a CD of the best of those nights. Joel wasted no time in contacting Jim West at Justin Time Records. Jim actually heard the music before I did and said he wanted to release it. I was excited, but at the same time I wanted to be sure that I really did like the results.
One nice surprise was how good the recording came out. John Klepko, the recording engineer did a sensational job. The piano sounded bigger and better than it did, although the piano is an excellent club piano. But John s recording definitely gave it more of a concert sound.
My second surprise was that some of the tunes just might be the best piano playing I have done on record. And I mean from all aspects, creativity, flow, etc. So we have a happy confluence of elements here. A well oiled pianist, an exceptional engineer, a club owner who really loves the music and a record producer who also gives it up for the music. Put that all together and hopefully you have one of my best offerings. I hope you all agree.“
From the liner notes by Kenny Werner. Tracklist:
1. Round Midnight (10:29)
2. Balloons (13:34)
3. All The Things (4:55)
4. Blue In Green (13:03)
5. I Had A King (7:49)
6. Giant Steps (4:38)
7. A Child Is Born (11:45)
Released 2012.