Accessibility links
Kenny Barron Kenny Barron artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Kenny Barron

A Jazz Piano Christmas: 2020

Pianist Kenny Barron performs as the audience looks out at the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Felix Contreras hide caption

toggle caption
Felix Contreras

Holiday Music Specials

A Jazz Piano Christmas: 2020

This year's edition of A Jazz Piano Christmas features REDWOOD, Cory Henry and Kenny Barron. We're celebrating the holidays with swing from the East Coast jazz scene.

A Jazz Piano Christmas: 2020

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/944305563/944507403" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Nate Chinen's Favorite Albums Of 2018

Mary Halvorson's volatile and cagey album Code Girl is her first set full of songs with lyrics, both a departure from and extension of her earlier work and one of Nate Chinen's favorite albums of 2018. Ross Mantle for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Ross Mantle for NPR

More Best Music Of 2018

Nate Chinen's Favorite Albums Of 2018

WBGO

For NPR Music's jazz critic and the editorial director of WBGO, 2018 was a year that saw music — not just jazz — in the throes of a creative boom, rocketing in many directions.

'Remembering Marian McPartland: A Celebration' On Piano Jazz

Marian McPartland. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz

'Remembering Marian McPartland: A Celebration' On Piano Jazz

Tony Bennett, Barbara Carroll, Bill Charlap, Chris Brubeck and more pay tribute to the grande dame of Piano Jazz.

Remembering Marian McPartland

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/392761735/392762806" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Art As Conversation

Nels Cline and Julian Lage's new collaborative album is called Room. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

Music

Art As Conversation

NPR's Melissa Block and music critic Tom Moon discuss the thrill of intimacy on three new albums by duos.

Art As Conversation: Three New Collaborative Albums

Listen · 8:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/354568569/354639793" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Kenny Barron And Dave Holland On JazzSet

Kenny Barron. John Sann/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
John Sann/Courtesy of the artist

JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater

Kenny Barron And Dave Holland On JazzSet

WBGO

JazzSet celebrates the 70th birthday of NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron with new duets featuring bassist Dave Holland at the Kennedy Center's Family Theater. Plus, hear a solo Barron set.

Kenny Barron And Dave Holland On JazzSet

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/187303315/187249754" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Kenny Barron On Piano Jazz

Kenny Barron. John Sann/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
John Sann/Courtesy of the artist

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz

Kenny Barron On Piano Jazz

The pianist performs "Clouds" and pairs with host Marian McPartland for "How Deep Is The Ocean?" in 2003.

Listen: Kenny Barron On Piano Jazz

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/214848782/214798287" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Kenny Barron On JazzSet

Kenny Barron. Carol Friedman hide caption

toggle caption
Carol Friedman

Concerts

Kenny Barron On JazzSet

WBGO

Join a sold-out crowd at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater in Washington, D.C., to experience the piano artistry of a true jazz genius, Kenny Barron. The performance was recorded live on Oct. 2, 2009.

Kenny Barron On JazzSet

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122318426/143790302" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Kenny Barron Quintet: Live At The Village Vanguard

Kenny Barron. John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com hide caption

toggle caption
John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

Live At The Village Vanguard

Kenny Barron Quintet: Live At The Village Vanguard

WBGO

For jazz musicians, Barron is considered an institution. So it's fitting that the pianist gets to celebrate his 70th birthday at another jazz institution. Here, he demonstrates his ebullient clarity.

Kenny Barron Quintet: Live At The Village Vanguard

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/187385391/189178246" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Concert

The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters. Clockwise, from upper left: Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Yusef Lateef, George Avakian, Bobby Hutcherson, Annie Ross, Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Holman (center). clockwise from upper left: Gene Martin, Carol Friedman, Michael DiDonna, Ian P. Clifford, Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images, Barbara Bordnick, Alan Nahigian, William Claxton hide caption

toggle caption
clockwise from upper left: Gene Martin, Carol Friedman, Michael DiDonna, Ian P. Clifford, Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images, Barbara Bordnick, Alan Nahigian, William Claxton

Concerts

The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Concert

WBGO

Seven great musicians and one record producer were recognized with the country's highest honor for jazz artistry — and then took the stage to perform. Hear a recording of the live broadcast, which took place at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.

Listen Now: The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Show

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122457086/122510781" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Best Music Of 2008

Geniuses Collide In 2008's Best Jazz

90.5 WESA

Cross-pollination of excellent musicians made for some amazing jazz in 2008. The year's best CDs feature numerous musicians collaborating with each other on a wide variety of recordings. Hearing the best musicians work with other geniuses is a wonderful thing to witness. Here are 10 of the best jazz CDs of the year.

Hear Shaunna Morrison Machosky Discuss Her Top Pick

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/97753690/98861524" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Concerts

Trio da Paz Brings the Brazilian Heat

WBGO

Hand in glove, Kenny Barron weaves jazz piano into Brazilian samba with Trio da Paz: Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, and Duduka da Fonseca. The four friends share the bandstand at Jazz Standard in New York.

Trio da Paz with Kenny Barron in Concert on Jazz Set 12/31/07

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/91166191/91166189" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Concerts

Kenny Barron And Eliane Elias In Concert

WBGO

With others and alone, pianist Kenny Barron has a relaxed style that belies his ability to stir up a holy storm at the keys. Most significantly, he spent four years with Dizzy Gillespie in the '60s, leading to work with Freddie Hubbard and Yusef Lateef before he co-founded Sphere. Hear a concert from JazzSet.

Kenny Barron and Eliane Elias in Concert on JazzSet 11/8/07

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/16114989/94750088" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
A Jazz Piano Christmas

L-R: Helio Alves, Renee Rosnes, Kenny Barron, Freddy Cole. Margot I. Schulman hide caption

toggle caption
Margot I. Schulman

Holiday Music

A Jazz Piano Christmas

Live from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., it's NPR Music's annual celebration of seasonal music in swing time. A public radio holiday tradition returns with Kenny Barron, Renee Rosnes, Helio Alves and Freddy Cole.

A Jazz Piano Christmas 2010

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/132054036/132057367" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Review

Basic Jazz Record Library

Stan Getz: 'People Time'

Three months before his death, tenor saxophonist Stan Getz teamed with pianist Kenny Barron at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen to record a series of duets. The brilliant collaboration was recorded for the 1991 album, People Time.

Stan Getz: 'People Time'

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4543532/150768725" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Gary Giddins: 101 Ways To Get Into 'Jazz'

Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux's Jazz is a new guide for both novice listeners and longtime fans. Herman Leonard hide caption

toggle caption
Herman Leonard

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

Gary Giddins: 101 Ways To Get Into 'Jazz'

WBGO

Attempting to make your way into jazz is never easy, but the jazz writer and cultural critic Gary Giddins has rendered it a bit more approachable. His new book, Jazz, is a new guide for novice listeners and longtime fans alike. Giddins picks five songs from his list of 101 entry-way jazz recordings.

Mulgrew Miller On JazzSet

Mulgrew Miller at the Detroit Jazz Festival. David Tallacksen/WBGO hide caption

toggle caption
David Tallacksen/WBGO

Concerts

Mulgrew Miller On JazzSet

WBGO

As Artist-in-Residence at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Miller was booked solid. In these highlights, he first joins Kenny Barron for duo pianos on the main stage, then plays with his long-running group Wingspan on the Waterfront Stage.

Mulgrew Miller On JazzSet

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/133468424/139941162" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse archive or search npr.org