The press notes accompanying this release announce this is Kenny Barron's first solo album since Kenny Barron at the Piano from 1981. It isn't. He recorded Spiral (Baystate) in June 1982 and Live at Maybeck Recital Hall for Concord in December 1990, thus making The Source his fourth solo album.

Barron is a pianist who has succeeded in refining and evolving his art, year on year, ever since he emerged as a promising teenage pianist out of Philadelphia in the early 1960s. An acknowledged highpoint of his career was in a trio context with Ray Drummond (bass) and Ben Riley (drums) on The Perfect Set from 1996, which suggested – to paraphrase a saying about Duke Ellington – Kenny Barron may be a pianist, but his real instrument was the trio.

Yet the solo Source is a fine example of his pianistic art, and how it has evolved since the 1990 Maybeck recording can be heard by comparing ‘Well You Needn't’ and ‘Sunshower’, compositions common to both albums. If anything, technique is more apparent on The Source, suggestive of a confidence that comes with experience, since it is used in service of saying something, while harmonically he is more subtle, with strings of passing chords dropped into his line almost as asides.

At heart a master of melodic construction in the storytelling sense, and acknowledged as one of the finest interpreters of Monk's music (he was the rock on which the group Sphere was founded, with former Monk sidemen Charlie Rouse and Ben Riley), countless albums in his extensive discography contain a Monk tune, which like an unexpected spice in bold cuisine, adds a subtle kick.

The Source shows a true master at work, and each and every note should be savoured.