Kenny Barron – born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 9, 1943 - is a veteran jazz pianist who has accompanied many of the great stars of the genre and led several aggregations with his name including The Kenny Barron Trio and The Kenny Barron Quartet. Born in Philadelphia, he began playing the piano as a child and, with help from his older brother, saxophonist Bill Barron, he played with the Mel Melvin R&B Band. Stints playing with sax player Jimmy Heath and drummer Philly Joe Jones led to compositions for Yusef Lateef's 1960 album The Centaur and the Phoenix. He played on his brother's recordings and joined Dizzy Gillespie's band performing in New York, at festivals and in Europe. Kenny Barron released Sunset to Dawn, his first album as a leader, in 1973. He followed that with albums such as Peruvian Blue (1974), Lucifer (1975), Innocence (1978), Golden Lotus (1982), Autumn in New York (1985), Spirit Song (2000), Freefall (2001), The Traveler (2008), Book of Intuition (2016), The Scene is Clean (2019), and The Source (2023). Throughout his career, he also released collaborative albums with artists such as Jimmy Owens, Tommy Flanagan, Ted Dunbar, Ron Carter, Michael Moore, Buster Williams, Red Mitchell, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Regina Carter, Dave Holland, and others. Both a journeyman and an inspirational leader, he has taught at Rutgers University and the Juilliard School of Music.
