Ithaca College

Kenny Werner, a jazz pianist and author of Effortless Mastery, will present a free lecture and concert on Sunday, April 3, in the Whalen Center for Music. The lecture will be at 7:00 pm in the Hockett Family Recital Hall, and the performance, with the Kenny Werner Trio, will be at 8:15 pm in Ford Hall.

In his book, Effortless Mastery, Werner uses his own life story and experiences to explore the barriers to creativity and mastery of music, and in the process reveals that "mastery is available to everyone," providing practical, detailed ways to move towards greater confidence and proficiency in any endeavor. While Werner is a musician, the concepts presented are for every profession or life-style where there is a need for free-flowing, effortless thinking.

Werner's long career in jazz has included collaborations with Archie Shepp, the Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Cologne Radio Jazz Orchestra (WDR), the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra, the Metropole Orchestra (Holland), and the Umo Jazz Orchestra (Finland).

In 1981, he formed his first trio with bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Tom Rainey. They played together for 14 years. In recent years, he has frequently performed with Toots Thielemans or his current trio: Ari Honig on drums and Johannes Wiedenmueller on bass.