Janis Mann Kenny Werner

The Kenny Werner Trio opens up a box of tasty musical surprises 18 years together, three consummate storytellers, pianist Kenny Werner, bassist Johannes Weidenmüller and drummer Ari Hoenig, create an incisive masterpiece of spontaneous discovery. With "Animal Crackers", Kenny Werner and his trio have created an intricate, passionate album that feeds the spirit as well as the senses.

Jazz pianist Kenny Werner has consistently delivered outstanding results on his many record dates as a leader, yet he often seems like he is still a talent deserving of wider recognition after decades on the jazz scene. This trio session for the Japanese label Venus features the pianist with bassist Johannes Weidenmüller and drummer Ari Hoenig, two outstanding players who are a good bit younger than the leader. It is hard not to detect the influence of Bill Evans upon Werner in spots, especially in his lyrical touch, though he is far more than an Evans clone. On this album Werner is joined by Johannes Weidenmueller and Ari Hoenig. Selections include Werner's original scores "Beauty Secrets" and "Balloons".

This album is a tribute to selected composers in the 1950s who wrote Jazz and Pop tunes and has pre-sold 1000 albums. Produced by Kenny Werner and recorded by Al Schmitt at Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood and Avatar Studios in NYC, the album offers some of the finest jazz musicians on both East and West coasts supporting Lyn Stanley's captivating voice that is unique, haunting and mesmerizing.

In 2021 after enjoying a Central Park concert, drummer Duduka Da Fonseca met bassist Gili Lopes and guitarist Vinicius Gomes, both of whom said that they wanted very much to play music with him.

Since arriving in New York City, Tessa Souter has built a dedicated following. She was a relative latecomer to jazz, taking time out to raise a family at a young age and work as a journalist before studying at the Manhattan School of Music and privately with vocal great Mark Murphy, though she has developed into a formidable singer in a relatively short time.

Carmen McRae's debut was recorded in 1954, the same year she was awarded the title Best New Female Vocalist by DownBeat magazine. Accompanied by an all-star line up of musicians including Herbie Mann on flute and tenor saxophone, Wendell Marshall on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums, this auspicious debut set up the rest of McRae's successful career which would see her record more than 60 albums, garner multiple Grammy nominations and appear in films and on television.

"Ballade pour la nuit (Ballad For The Night)" is an album that brings you a tribute to the music of Django Reinhardt which our listeners have referred to as “jazzy”, “gypsy”, “swing” and “the best”. On the album, lead guitarist Reinier Voet and Kain van Kooten on violin are supported by Jan Brouwer on rhythm guitar and Jet Stevens on double bass. Voet’s guitar and van Kooten’s violin playing truly swings with Brouwer and Stevens laying down a solid foundation for each selection. This is musical playing at its best with sound quality to match. If you need an album that shows off the One Microphone Recording style, this could be the ticket.

This is the eighth volume release of Venus Records' SACD compilation. It is a sampler of tracks from the Venus Records library. This edition, (again) focused on the GREAT PIANO TRIOS. The album includes tracks from Dick Hyman Trio, Pepe Rivero Trio, Kenny Werner Trio, Monty Alexander Trio, Stefano Bollani Trio, and more.

George Garzone is a marvelous tenor saxophonist who is also known as a highly regarded educator. Some of people he has taught includes Branford Marsalis, Mark Turner, Joshua Redman, & many more. Garzone's debut album arrived fairly late in 1995 with the main influences coming from Stan Getz & John Coltrane. For this exceptional release, Garzone tapped into his love of Getz as he was paired with Trio da Paz, a superlative Brazillian trio led by the prominent guitarist, Romero Lubambo. In addition, piano expert Kenny Werner also joins this outstanding group of musicians. The casual listener might mistake this album as background music but that would be wrong. A sharp listener will pick up & savour the music being played by these masters. Each musician is tuned in to each other & aware of the right moment to play each note. This is an album that rewards deep listening.

The shipwreck of the "Medusa" was a symbolic testimony for many artists: for the painter Théodore Géricault, who captured the rescue of a handful of survivors on a monumental painting; for the writer Peter Weiss, who described his encounter with Géricault's painting in the novel "The Aesthetics of Resistance"; for the Austrian Franzobel, who published a "Medusa" novel in 2017; and for the composer Hans Werner Henze, who dramatized in an oratorio in 1967/68.