“Kenny Werner is a clear virtuoso…he has miraculous rhythm”
Live at the 2002 Litchfield Jazz Festival Photo: Stuart Feldman
Pianist, composer and arranger, Kenny Werner, was born in 1951 in Brooklyn, NY. As young as age eleven he was recording and making television appearances. He began his college career at the Manhattan School of Music as a concert piano major but completed his degree in jazz at the Berklee School of Music.
Werner has recorded more than 24 albums as a leader. He has played, toured or recorded with Archie Shepp, Rufus Reid, Ray Drummond, Eddie Gomez, David Sanchez, Tom Harrell, John Scofield, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Chris Potter, Toots Thielemans, Marian McPartland, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Elvin Jones, Lou Rawls, Betty Buckley, the Mel Lewis Orchestra and many others.
He earned a Grammy nomination for a composition on his duo album with Toots Thieleman, has received two performance grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, won the distinguished Composer award from the New Jersey Council for the Arts and was commissioned to compose and conduct a memorial piece for Duke Ellington performed at New York’s St. John the Devine.
In 1996, Kenny published a book that has had a major impact on the music world titled Effortless Mastery. It features priceless information about the physical, technical, psychological and spiritual aspects of being an artist. As a result he is in great demand as a teacher and clinician at Universities worldwide. He is currently an artist in residence at New York University and Berklee College of Music. “Werner has become one of our most literate and visceral pianists.” –JazzTimes
The Kenny Werner Trio is Kenny Werner on piano, Litchfield Jazz Camp alumnus Richie Barshay on drums and Jorge Roeder on bass.
