Piano Interpretations – Wynton Kelly

Album: Piano Interpretations

Artist: Wynton Kelly

Year: 1951

Genre: Jazz, Bebop

Grade: A

In 1951, the 19-year-old Wynton Kelly was a terrific pianist who followed in the bebop blueprint of Bud Powell. Kelly’s style of playing is relaxed, and in the drum-bass-piano format of his debut LP, Piano Interpretations, he gives his arrangements plenty of room to breathe, with a strong emphasis on mood and melody.

Kelly’s drowsy, bluesy style of piano playing serves as an early precursor to hard bop (“I’ve Found a New Baby“), and his melancholic chord voicings (“Moonlight in Vermont“) were a direct influence on the modality of Miles Davis and Bill Evans. He was ahead of his time, that’s for damn sure. And Piano Interpretations is probably the greatest album he ever recorded as a leader. Every song is graceful and plaintive, filled with sonorous texture.

In fact, Piano Interpretations is one of the most underrated gems in the entire jazz catalogue — very ahead of its time. Everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to John Coltrane to Wayne Shorter would be chasing this type of sound. Fantastic stuff.

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Accolades

• Top 10 Albums of 1951 — #3