Kenny Barron Quintet Concentric Circles CD

On 11-time Grammy-nominated pianist, composer, bandleader and educator Kenny Barron’s previous Impulse! Records releases – The Art of Conversation and Book of Intuition – he created magic utilizing small combos, respectively in a duo with Dave Holland then a trio with drummer Jonathan Blake and bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa. On Barron’s newest release, Concentric Circles, Blake and Kitagawa return. But the leader widens his sonic palette with the inclusion of tenor and soprano saxophonist Dayna Stephens and trumpeter Mike Rodriguez.

Concentric Circles boasts fetching, previously unrecorded originals. The disc opens with the barreling “DPW,” an up-tempo hard-bop delight that pays homage to Barron’s Brooklyn neighborhood, Ditmas Park West. Composed in 2013, the song jolts with an enticing frontline trumpet-and-tenor saxophone melody and urbane harmonies reminiscent of those heard in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’ mid-’60s quintet. Atop a sterling groove that slides between straight-ahead hard bop and Afro-Latin rhythms, Barron hammers a crystalline yet lyrical improvisation that illuminates his mastery at touch, phrasing and harmonic