Kenny Barron: "Sunset To Dawn"

I’ll end this installment with an album by the criminally underrated jazz keyboardist Kenny Barron, once again on Muse Records.  Barron was working as a sideman for Yusef Lateef during the same time that this album was recorded (’73), and he shows the same passion for experimentation with a diversity of styles.  His keyboard playing is simply sublime, with powers of improvisation and creativity easily on the level of his more famous peers of the ’70’s (Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, etc.).  He splits equal time between the acoustic piano and the Fender Rhodes, both of which he turns inside out, and his band, which includes the also-underrated Freddie Waits on drums, are monsters.  The album features the frequently sampled “Sunset” as its opener, with cascading, ethereal tones on the Rhodes, and it also indulges in more underground funk delicacies like “Swamp Demon.”  Do yourself a favor—go get yourself some Kenny Barron.  You won’t be sorry.