Kenny Barron (born June 9, 1943)
is an American jazz pianist, who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as
leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream
jazz pianists since the bebop era.[
Born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, Kenny Barron is the younger brother of tenor saxophonist Bill
Barron (1927–1989). One of his first gigs was as pianist with the Dizzy
Gillespie quartet. Barron was briefly a member of the Jazztet around 1962 but
did not record with them.
He co-led the groups Sphere and
the Classical Jazz Quartet. Between 1987 and 1991, Barron recorded several
albums with Stan Getz, most notably Voyage, Bossas & Ballads – The Lost
Sessions, Serenity, Anniversary and People Time, a two-CD set. He has been
nominated nine times for Grammy Awards and for the American Jazz Hall of Fame.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.
In May 2010, Barron was awarded
an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music along with
African-born singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo, Spanish guitarist Paco de
Lucia, and songwriting duo Leon Huff and Kenneth Gamble. For over 25 years,
Barron taught piano and keyboard harmony at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
He now teaches at the Juilliard School of Music. His piano students have
included Earl MacDonald, Harry Pickens, and Aaron Parks.