Kenny Barron

Critics and the general jazz public are finally figuring out what Kenny Barron's peers have known for years -- he is one of the best jazz pianists of any era. Barron has played with just about every major talent there is, but really shined with Dizzy Gillespie in the 1960s and Stan Getz in the '80s and '90s. Barron's style is like a combination of a less flashy Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, and Hank Jones. He helps you see that such genre distinctions as swing, bop, and cool are ultimately meaningless. Kenny Barron is a great pianist, period.