Master jazz pianist Kenny Barron returns with a star-studded new album, Songbook, coming out this November via Artwork Records.
A collection of brand-new original compositions from Barron with lyrics written by jazz singer and educator Janice Jarrett, Songbook is Barron’s first vocal jazz album featuring some of the best in contemporary jazz today including Cécile McLorin Salvant, Kurt Elling, Ann Hampton Callaway, Catherine Russell, and Jean Baylor. Songbook also includes appearance from emerging artists Kavita Shah, Ekep Nkwelle, and Barron’s label-mate Tyreek McDole, who currently has the number one album on the JazzWeek Jazz Chart.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” says Barron. “This project had been running through my head for more than three decades. So, I decided that this would be the perfect time.”
Songbook is the follow-up to 2024’s Beyond This Place, which was nominated for a GRAMMY and 2023’s critically acclaimed The Source, Barron’s first solo piano recording in forty years.
Central to the album is Barron and Jarrett’s longstanding creative collaboration which began in the late 1960s when Jarrett worked as a secretary for Barron’s brother, saxophonist Bill Barron. “When I listen to Barron’s music, I get visuals or moments from them, especially when I pay close attention to the melodies and song titles,” Jarrett explains. “I had carte blanche in writing the lyrics because he trusted me.”
“Kenny and Janice are both poets,” says vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway who appears on the track “Cook’s Bay.” “A poet distills truths and makes them come alive in unexpected ways….Kenny paints stories and Janice brings them alive with words that leave room for the imagination.”
Songbook comes out November 14 on Artwork Records. Take a listen to the lead singles “Song for Abdullah” featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant and “In the Slow Lane” with Kurt Elling.
