*** Kenny Barron

SPIRIT SONG

(enja)

Perhaps better known as a sideman, especially with Stan Getz in the last years of the saxophonist's life, pianist Barron is also an authoritative leader. On his sixth album for Verve, he shows his full range. There are medium-uptempo swingers with sleek arrangements (the opening "The Pelican"); there's a ballad feature for Regina Carter's violin ("Um Beijo") plus stunning duets with tenor-saxophonist David Sanchez (McCoy Tyner's "Passion Flower") and guitarist Russell Malone (the Barron original "And Then Again"). The arrangements and the sensibilities of Barron's cohort give each piece a distinctive character -- Eddie Henderson's varied phrasing and delicate mute work on Billy Strayhorn's "Passion Flower," Sanchez's mix of power and restraint throughout, the leader's command of seamless single-note runs and percussive attacks. But it's Malone who seems to give Barron the biggest lift. The tonally ambiguous title track, with its conga rhythms, dissonant keyboard splashes, and sprightly unison line for piano and guitar, takes off into brightly colored abstraction, and Malone's off-center chords ring out like Blood Ulmer on bebop.

-- Jon Garelick