artist info

Kenny Werner is a world-class pianist and composer. He was awarded the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for his work No Beginning No End, a musical journey exploring tragedy and loss, death and transition, and the path from one lifetime to the next. Utilizing over 70 musicians, the album is an expansive composition featuring Joe Lovano and Judy Silvano. Quincy Jones has said of Kenny, “Perfection, 360 degrees of soul and science in one human being. My kind of musician.” Kenny has written many original compositions featuring trios and other small group configurations, including the Cologne, Danish, and Stockholm Jazz Orchestras. In 2007, his quintet featuring Chris Potter, Dave Douglas, Scott Colley, and Brian Blade received critical acclaim for its fusion of electro and acoustic elements. Kenny also continues to play with Toots Thielemans, the legendary harmonica player. For several years now, he has also toured with his quintet featuring David Sanchez on sax, the legendary trumpet player Randy Brecker, Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Scott Colley on bass. Despite his creative output, Kenny is still focused on the music.” I am still more and more aware of the true purpose of the music and the people who play it: to heal and unite the planet.” Kenny’s groundbreaking book, Improvisation, Effortless Mastery – Liberating the Master Musician Within (1996), is required reading at many universities. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at New York University.

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs unique interpretations of unknown and scarcely recorded jazz and blues compositions. She focuses on a theatrical portrayal of the jazz standard and composes music and lyrics, which she also sings in French, her native language, as well as in Spanish. She enjoys performing with renowned musicians like Jean-Francois Bonnel, Rodney Whitaker, Aaron Diehl, Dan Nimmer, Sadao Watanabe, Jacky Terrasson, Archie Shepp, and Jonathan Batiste. In August 2012, Cécile recorded a CD with Aaron Diehl, Rodney Whitaker, Herlin Riley and James Chirillo. Cécile has performed at numerous festivals such as Jazz à Vienne, Ascona, Whitley Bay, Montauban, Foix, with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in New York’s Lincoln Center and Chicago’s Symphony Center, and with her own band at the Kennedy Center, the Spoleto Jazz Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival and other venues. Ben Ratliff writes in The New York Times, “she sings clearly, with her full pitch range, from a pronounced low end to full and distinct high notes, used sparingly... Her voice clamps into each song, performing careful variations on pitch, stretching words but generally not scatting; her face conveys meaning, representing sorrow or serenity like a silent-movie actor…”