The Night Beat: Renee Rosnes, "Art & Soul"
National Piano Month continues on Wednesday, September 24, with Night Beat host Doug Crane.
He’ll feature pianist Renee Rosnes’ album “Art & Soul” released by Blue Note Records in 1999.
Born in Canada in 1962, Renee moved to New York City in 1985. Soon after her arrival, she became a member of Out of the Blue, a band of young jazz musicians poised to take on the world. Her fellow bandmates included Kenny Garrett, Billy Drummond, Ralph Peterson, Robert Hurst, and Steve Wilson.
Renee was the first female pianist hired by saxophonist Joe Henderson for his band. She was also part of saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s band and was the last pianist to work with trombonist J.J. Johnson before his retirement. When trombonist Nick Finzer recorded and toured in 2024 to honor the centenary of the birth of J.J. Johnson, Renee was part of his band.
Besides appearing on a number of recordings in a supporting role, Renee has released around 20 albums since the late 1980s. She was a founding member of the SF Jazz Collective and is currently the pianist and music director of the all-female jazz ensemble “Artemis”.
Renee has performed in Colorado on numerous occasions, including the Mount Vernon Country Club in the 1990s, the Vail Jazz Party in 2023, and last fall at Dazzle as part of Ron Carter’s FourSight Quartet.
Art & Soul, this week’s National Piano Month album with Renee as its leader, offers a lot of contrasts and variety. Dianne Reeves appears on two tracks that I consider some of her best work as a singer. “Ancient Footprints” (aka Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints”) with lyrics by singer Kitty Margolis and “Lazy Afternoon” with music by Jerome Moross and lyrics by John LaTouche. And as they’re buried on an album by a pianist, neither has ever received much airplay on KUVO.
The rest of the album contains only two originals written by Renee. Other tracks were written by Ornette Coleman, Gordon Jenkins, Egberto Gismonti, and Duke Ellington, whose “Fleurette Africaine” (also known as African Flower) is my favorite song on the album.
Tune in on Wednesday, September 24, at 8 p.m. for Renee Rosnes’ “Art & Soul” with host Doug Crane, this week’s selected album for National Piano Month.
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