Testing the musical knowledge of world class artists with a series of classic recordings, getting their in-the-moment impressions and insights into their tastes and influences.

SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Kenny Barron
The pianist and SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director shares his memories of and firsthand experiences with many of the most influential artists in jazz history, from bebop pioneers and bossa nova icons to hard bop luminaries and avant-garde innovators, and how they shaped his life and career.
Called “one of the top jazz pianists in the world” by The Los Angeles Times, Kenny Barron is a 2010 NEA Jazz Master and thirteen-time GRAMMY nominee who helped define and extend the jazz tradition since his work with Dizzy Gillespie in the early ‘60s catapulted him into the spotlight. Extensive associations with Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Stan Getz, James Moody and Ron Carter built his peerless reputation as a sideman, and he has recorded over 50 albums as a bandleader over his five-decade career. A seven-time recipient of Best Pianist by the Jazz Journalists Association, Barron leads an ironclad trio with bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummer Johnathan Blake, and regularly performs as a soloist and settings from duo to big band.

Track listings:
Horace Silver: “Nutville” from The Cape Verdean Blues (1966)
Dizzy Gillespie: “Panamericana” from Gillespiana (1961)
Sérgio Mendes Trio: “Berimbau” from In the Brazilian Bag (1966)
Ornette Coleman: “Lonely Woman” from The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
John Coltrane: “Olé” from Olé Coltrane (1961)