Musicians
~~~~~~~~
* Kenny Werner: piano, keyboards, computer
* Chris Potter: tenor sax, bass clarinet
* Lenny Picket: wooden sax (track 8)
* Scott Colley: bass
* Brian Blade: drums

Produced by Lenny Picket

Songlist
~~~~~~~
01 - New Amsterdam
02 - The 13th Day
03 - burble_burble_splerk
04 - Uncovered Heart
05 - Inaugural Balls
06 - west_coast_variant
07 - Lo's Garden Suite
08 - Lawn Chair (and Other Foreign Policy)
09 - Loss
10 - Kothbiro


Review
~~~~~~
By John Kelman 
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=25518

Kenny Werner is best-known as an acoustic pianist, but he's no stranger to other
keyboards. Still, Lawn Chair Society's greater emphasis on electronics will no
doubt come as a surprise to those who know him through solo piano outings like
Live at Maybeck Recital Hall (Concord, 1994) or the more recent post-bop of
Democracy: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2006). With its combination of
strong group interplay, electronica textures and occasional post-Miles musings,
Lawn Chair Society simply confirms that Werner is an artist for whom the words
convention and predictability have no meaning.

Which really shouldn't come as a surprise, given that Werner literally wrote the
book (Effortless Mastery) on channelling one's technical knowledge into a
consistently fresh approach.

Lawn Chair Society reconvenes Democracy's rhythm section—bassist Scott Colley
and drummer Brian Blade. By enlisting trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist
Chris Potter—two artists who have on their own recordings been exploring paths
of technology integrated with improvised music—Werner has built a quintet quite
literally capable of anything. And it's a good thing, because Lawn Chair Society
attempts to cover a lot of stylistic and textural ground.

Electronic sounds bubble underneath and, occasionally, come to the surface on
tracks like "Lo's Garden," whose theme could easily be transposed into a
straight-ahead context if it weren't for Colley's staggered support and Werner's
fluidly abstract lines. The post-Herbie Hancock funk of "New Amsterdam" is
equally elastic, with Blade's busy groove propelling it forward even as, midway
through, the time suddenly shifts into a visceral swing.

"Lawn Chair (and Other Foreign Policy)," later in the disc, seems like a return
to the same funk, with Douglas' introductory solo leading into the kind of
sing-song melody so characteristic of Miles Davis' later years (think
"Jean-Pierre"). But it's Werner's harmonic shuffling underneath that
demonstrates the potential of even the simplest of lines to yield worthwhile
results. From visceral groove to the spacious abstraction of Werner's solo and,
ultimately, to harmonized textures referencing "It's About That Time" from
Miles' classic In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969), it's a brilliant piece of
musical history-telling that, with producer Lenny Picket's ambient ideas weaving
in and out, remains thoroughly modern.

The playing is as interactive and inventive as one would expect from a group
this strong. What makes Lawn Chair Society more than just another all-star
session is the conceptual aesthetic that links seemingly disparate tunes, as the
connection between the melancholy closer, "Kothbiro," with the processed sounds
surrounding Douglas' free-ranging solo on the aptly titled
"burble_burble_splerk." Werner's unexpected shift may rankle some purists, but
it's a demonstration that the best artists refuse to be pigeonholed by
expectations arising from past successes, which instead become little more than
steps in a constantly evolving creative process of discovery and innovation.

Published: May 13, 2007
Style: Modern Jazz