Shaw & Smart/Song for Someone, 7. Angel Song

The drummerless quartet album Angel Song was a commercial success for Kenny, now approaching his seventies. As ECM reached the height of its influence, this beautiful, and in many ways unexpectedly accessible recording made its mark, to critical acclaim. Once again including Dave Holland, it also featured saxophonist Lee Konitz and guitarist Bill Frisell, who had hired Kenny as a sideman for his ECM album Rambler over a decade earlier. Despite the success of Angel Song, this period would see Kenny increasingly record for other labels and marked the end of his long association with the Banff Centre. It was a fertile time of collaboration with new musical partners, marked by duo albums with pianists Paul Bley and Brian Dickinson, as well as a recording with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. In the late nineties, Kenny took on new representation and began a new relationship with Italian record label CAM Jazz.