The Producer
    Jean-Jacques Pussiau and I have now collaborated on several projects and I’ve said before, he is my kind of producer. He trusts the musicians to make the music and supports me in any way he can. In America we are being released on Jamey D. Aebersold’s label, Double Time Records, whom I have recorded with before. There is some history here and that’s nice. I am also very proud to be the first release of Jean-Jacques new label, Nightbird. He already has the respect of many people for his previous label, Owl. So this becomes the next chapter for all of us.

The Venue
    We recorded three nights, three sets a night. That’s nine sets of music! I know there will be at least one more volume if not more. We had so many great moments. At the Sunset (now named The Sunside) in Paris, we feel at home, we feel loved, and we feel respected. And people come to hear us play! That’s an important point, because without that we don’t have much to celebrate. I am proud to have done our first trio recordings at this club.

The Music
    This album happens to be all standards and that is purely coincidental. I would never set out to do a theme of standards or originals. The cuts are selected based on how they feel next to one another. It’s important for the sequence to keep drawing me in. In that sense the composer is irrelevant. The good thing about standards is that they can withstand endless interpretations. They remain fresh and exciting to play. We could probably record “Nardis” or “My Funny Valentine” on every CD and have vastly different results each time.

Kenny Werner Form and Fantasy Vol.1

    Kenny Werner : piano
    Johannes Weidenmueller : bass
    Ari Hoenig : drums

    1. Amonkst 6’13 Kenny Werner
    2. Sicilienne (intro) - solo piano 4’13 J.S. Bach
    3. Sicilienne 7’42 J.S. Bach
    4. Nardis 10’22 Miles Davis
    5. Tears in Heaven 8’06 Eric Clapton
    6. Dolphin Dance 5’56 Herbie Hancock
    7. My Funny Valentine 7’59 Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
    8. Bill Remembered - solo piano 3’38 Kenny Werner
    9. Time Remembered 6’50 - Lonnie’s Lament 8’10 Bill Evans/John Coltrane

The Group
    Ari and Johannes are great players and really open, creative spirits. I need musicians that can do both. It’s been a while since I had a trio with a voice, but I feel that this trio has it. These guys challenge me to grow and I love that. I don’t listen to piano trios too much because they can be quite boring. Some great piano players for sure, but boring groups, boring bands. I don’t like hearing the bass and drummer accompanying the pianist all night. A trio for me means three musicians follow their own creative urges. It’s much more fun to have to react to someone else’s impulses. I’ve always structured my trios, knowingly or unknowingly, around this formula: I’m crazy and one other member of the trio is crazy and the third guy holds us together. You could say that Ari is crazy and Johannes takes care of us. We have really good chemistry. And they have the virtuosity and imagination to “pour formlessness into form.” The Philosophy Music is fantasy. I am always fantasizing while playing. Sometimes the piano is a string orchestra. Sometimes a groove is a well-oiled machine. Sometimes a melody is liquid sex. Sometimes a minor chord is soulfood. I don’t have much interest in art, but I love fantasy. I have always been attracted to wildness and control. Disorientation is also nice. Definitions don’t inspire me. I like to invite the audience into the space and then lock all the doors.
    It really turns me on to play for people, play with their heads, with their hearts, all to a good end result, I hope. From now on my trio recordings will be live, because that’s when it really happens for me. The best thing is that after playing a set with this trio, I feel really empty, really satisfied.

    Kenny Werner