A Day's Work: Kenny Warren's Sweet World

The discrepancy between expertise and reward is nowhere larger than in the jazz world. The point was driven home by a comment made by trumpeter Kenny Warren, who remarked how strange and wonderful it was that he could perform a prestigious concert one day and be back moving furniture for a living the next. Most people with even a modicum of talent who devote their life to a worthwhile pursuit find adequate compensation. But throughout the arts, and especially in creative music, the gap between mastery and opportunity is gaping.

I mused about that while entranced by the music of Kenny Warren’s Sweet World on February 5. His trio, featuring Christopher Hoffman, cello, and Nathan Ellman-Bell, drums, treated 50 of us to a very satisfying evening of Warren’s original compositions at CitySpace in Easthampton, MA. Nary a microphone on stage, the all-acoustic, 70-minute set consisted of material from their 2023 self-titled release, and an equal number of newer pieces they hope to record this summer.

In the main, the music had clear rhythmic structure, filled with exciting “bass” lines that grooved. The compositions had distinct personalities with strong hook-filled melodies. There were periods of open playing, sparking animated conversations between the musicians. The band was tight, nailing tricky endings and complex unison passages. And most of all, they played with the joy that results from creativity unleashed.

There was a slinky-ness to a lot of the music, played within a limited band of relaxed energy and sonic territory. With the exception of a short section of circular breathing, Warren steered clear of extended techniques, choosing instead to highlight his beautiful tone and a lithe, expressive approach to his instrument.

I first met Warren when I presented Slavic Soul Party! at UMass in 2017. He has been a part of Matt Moran’s new-jazz exploration of Roma music since 2008. The scales and phrasing that characterize Balkan music, and related forms like Arab maqam, have seeped into Sweet World, with “Angels Migration”, and "Q To Canal Light Show" providing thrilling reference to non-Western traditions. Dressed in black, Warren’s understated on-stage persona reinforced his relaxed attitude, but one with clear musical intention. Like fellow trumpeters Kirk Knuffke, Nate Wooley and Shane Endsley, Warren was profoundly influenced by Ron Miles while growing up in Denver. Warren shares Miles’ humble life-stance.

Christopher Hoffman is among a small throng of jazz musicians shining a spotlight on the cello. (See Tomeka Reid, Lester St. Louis, Daniel Levin, Marika Hughes, Erik Friedlander, Akua Dixon, Hank Roberts…) He walked with a swagger on “Respectfulee”, a bebop-inflected tribute to Lee Konitz, and provided a highly syncopated backbone for a slithering “Pigeon Rich”. Hoffman’s hand-in-glove work with Warren mirrors his essential role in the bands of Henry Threadgill, Anat Cohen, Tony Malaby and James Brandon Lewis. I hope his new job at the Kent School in Connecticut won’t impede his performing schedule too much.

A transplanted Brooklynite like Warren, Nathan Ellman-Bell is a tasty drummer who has been working with the trumpeter since the late teens. Currently subbing in the Bobby Darin-inspired Broadway jukebox musical, Just in Time, Ellman-Bell is a charter member of Brass Against, a New York-based, horn-heavy energy machine that cover songs by Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden and Black Sabbath, and write their own anti-establishment themes. A graduate of the Idyllwild Arts Academy (CA) and the Peabody Institute (Baltimore), Ellman-Bell drilled into tunes he knew well, making them feel inevitable. It is always great to be able to widen my circle of good drummers.

Even as paying gigs for artists like Warren, Hoffman and Ellman-Bell trickle in, the intrinsic rewards of unleashing creativity pile up.

“I play music because I love to play music, and because no one tells me I can’t,” Kenny Warren writes in the notes accompanying Sweet World. “No one is asking me to make another record. I will almost certainly lose money on it, like I have with every other record I’ve ever made. And it’s not going to change the world. It’s simply for the joy of making live art with and for the people I love. It’s silly and absurd, and sweet. It makes me feel good, and hopefully it will make some other people feel good too when they listen to it. Maybe it will make somebody wonder, or make them want to try something weird and beautiful, if, inshallah, they have the space to do so. I’m taking the good with the bad. I’m trying to live a life guided by love and honesty, even when the world fills me with existential dread. I have to believe that in dark times, simple acts of humanity are akin to acts of resistance. Sweet World.”