A Night at the Vanguard in Bloomington, MN

Kenny Burrell
played several nights at the Village Vanguard in August of 1993, and those shows are documented on two CDs -- this one and
Then Along Came Kenny
, which was released the following year. Both were produced by
Burrell
with
Yoichi Nakao
and feature an unfortunately ill-defined sound; pianist
James Williams
, bassist
Peter Washington
and drummer
Sherman Ferguson
are clearly audible, but
Burrell's
guitar is sometimes muffled. The program itself is quite nice, and features a good mix of standards, modern compositions and
originals, but the guitarist is hobbled, as he is on the other recording from this series of concerts, by a certain tentativeness.
tendency to hedge his bets is brought out most sharply on the
Thelonious Monk
compositions -- if you play
"Bemsha Swing"
safe, you're not playing "Bemsha Swing." But he does have great tone, and there's no arguing with any of the specific gestures he makes; the problem lies in those he doesn't make and could have. ~ Rick Anderson