Kind of Kenny Jason Keiser

• 1 Kind of Kenny 04:37
• 2 Hotel Le Hot 06:42
• 3 Gentle Piece 08:20
• 4 Kayak 04:55
• 5 Wheeler's Waltz 04:48
• 6 W.W. 01:01
• 7 Kind Folk 06:59
• 8 The Jigsaw 05:14
• 9 For Jan 06:09
• 10 Wheeler's Waltz (Duo) 06:28
• Total Runtime 55:13

Info for Kind of Kenny

Over the past decade San Jose guitarist Jason Keiser has carved out a sterling reputation as a bandleader whose musical passions range across North America’s expansive soundscape, and this album extends his exploration into arrestingly lyrical territory. After highlighting Woody Shaw’s treasure trove of intervallic leaping post-bop gems on 2023’s Shaw’s Groove, he turns his attention to another undersung trumpet maestro with Kind of Kenny, a deep dive into the ravishing music of Canadian composer Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014).

Ranging across Wheeler’s sumptuous discography, Keiser reimagines pieces like the elliptical “Hotel Le Hot” from 1990’s The Widow In the Window and the folky “Kind Folk” from 1997’s Angel Song. Delicately filigreed but wired with tungsten-tensile strength lines, the performances capture the burnished beauty and close calibration that mark Wheeler’s free-chamber compositions. “I love Kenny’s music. Particularly his records with odd instrumentation featuring John Abercrombie,” Keiser says.

Rejoining Keiser from the Shaw project are Berkeley-reared trumpeter Erik Jekabson, a creative catalyst on the Bay Area scene as leader of the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, and prolific Portland guitarist John Stowell, a near legendary figure who’s worked extensively with heavyweights like NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman and Mike Zilber, another key Kind of Kenny contributor (on tenor and soprano saxophones). With her crystalline tone and graceful phrasing Danielle Wertz provides a defining ingredient with her (mostly) wordless vocal lines, while delivering Norma Winstone’s portrait of a guarded soul on the sing-song “For Jan.”

Moving between electric and baritone fretless electric guitars, Stowell holds down the ensemble’s bottom range as he provides efficiently eloquent counterlines responding to Keiser’s acoustic steel and nylon string work. In many ways Stowell’s shared love of Wheeler’s music put the project on track. “John was the first link, making sure he was interested and available was important to me,” Keiser says, noting that Stowell has recorded several Wheeler tunes in the past, including “Kayak” and “Everybody’s Song But My Own.” ​

“John not only has a unique sound, phrasing and sense of time, his ideas and openness to the music are exceptional. He’s open to pushing boundaries, and we’re always bouncing ideas off of each other.”

With Kind of Kenny, Keiser and Stowell have taken an impressive leap, shining a welcome new light on a singular, insistently surprising body of music.

Jason Keiser, guitar

Jason Keiser
is a professional jazz and bluegrass guitarist, multi-stylist composer, OA2 & Adhyâropa Records recording artist, and educator. In addition to his solo career, Keiser is the bandleader of The New Acoustic Collective, a jazz-bluegrass fusion string band based in San Jose CA.

Keiser holds a B.A. in Bluegrass, Old-Time, & Country Music Studies from East Tennessee State University (2018) and a Masters of Music in Jazz Studies from San Jose State University (2020).

Keiser has collaborated, performed and/or studied with the following musicians; Wyatt Rice, Ron Rice, John Carlini, Rick Vandivier, Thomas Cassell, Ardeshir Farah, Adam Steffey, John Stowell, Mimi Fox, Dmitri Matheny, Dave Ellis, Matt Clark, Ruth Davies, Kenya Moses, Ami Molinelli, Jim Kerwin, Mike Mullins, Aaron Lington, Erik Jekabson, Dan Robbins, Jason Lewis, Jason Day, Don Ross, Danielle Wertz, Mike Zilber, and many more.

Keiser’s discography includes “Conversations with Jason” (2017) featuring Jason Day, “Buckwild” (2020) by The New Acoustic Collective, “Art of Acoustics” (2021) featuring Wyatt Rice by The New Acoustic Collective, “The Axe Axis” (2022) featuring Rick Vandivier & John Stowell, “Amor en Ritmo” (2022) featuring Thomas Cassell, Mike Mullins, Jim Kerwin & Melissa Garay by The New Acoustic Collective, “Shaw’s Groove” (2023) on OA2 Records featuring John Stowell, Aaron Lington, Erik Jekabson, Dan Robbins, and Jason Lewis, and his latest release “Grassology” (April 2024) on Adhyâropa Records. On October 25th 2024, Keiser will be releasing his follow up to “Shaw’s Groove”; an intimate chamber jazz quintet record entitled 'Kind of Kenny' featuring John Stowell, Danielle Wertz, Mike Zilber, and Erik Jekabson highlighting the unique music of Kenny Wheeler on OA2 Records. ​

Keiser has performed at many of the top jazz venues in the Bay Area including The Sound Room, Mr. Tipples Jazz Club, Mama Kin formerly Cafe Stritch, and more. Additionally, Keiser performed a 6 week residency at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville North Carolina, in 2021 Keiser and The New Acoustic Collective performed at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass as Official Showcase Artists, The Grey Eagle in Asheville, as well as performances in Virginia, Tennessee, and more as a solo jazz artist.

This album contains no booklet.