“Kenny is one of my favourite musicians. …Listening to Kenny makes the listener constantly re-examine why he is drawn to jazz, what jazz is, and what it is becoming.“
– Letter from Evans 
“…strong, imaginative music-making, 
both in the original compositions and the trio’s playing.”
– In Music 
“Werner owns more chops and brains than most pianists do…
…Werner hardly raises his voice to make subtle points, 
couching his logic in neat vamps, sinewy angular lines,
dizzying rhythmic double entendres.”
————————————————————————————– – Down Beat 
“A few notes mark out a melody lovely enough to put a songbird to shame. It drifts softly up from the piano, hangs in the air, then, rather than fading away, seems to draw us in, practically lifting us from our seats. Heaven should be so good.“
– Express 
“Werner…is a wonderfully fresh pianist whose seething energies
and imaginative zest are filtered through the discipline
of a classically honed technique.”
———————————————————- – Lawrence Journal-World 
“…an ebullient stylist…his solos start evenhandedly 
and become wooly rides into the darkness.”
– The Village Voice 
“Werner seems to never take the easy or predictable route…”
– Fanfare Magazine 
“Look out! …the inside of the music may become the outside. It’s all perfectly logical – if you are Kenny Werner, pianist with a penchant for abstraction, a propensity for a new concept…”
————————————————————– – Raleigh News and Observer 
“A real eye – (and ear -) opener…
where lullabies instantaneously 
transform themselves into locomotives.”
                                        – Cadence 
“Werner played with dazzling dexterity and mercurial wit…. His fingers were a blur on a monumental sprint through the insanely swift tempo for Ornette Coleman’s “Sphinx’.”
                                                                                            – The Hartford Courant 
“On ‘Yesterdays’, Werner, out of tempo, disguised the Kern melody,
revealing it, bit by bit, as he went before hitting the straight-ahead, swinging
harder and harder all the time and occasionally quoting from Mozart’s 40th
…Werner has become one of our most literate and visceral pianists.”
                – JazzTimes 
“Mr. Werner and his trio took apart two pieces, a swinging original of his own called ‘Jackson Five’ along with ‘You and the Night and the Music’, and reconfigured them with all sorts of nearly miraculous rhythm and tempo changes…a type of rhythm section fluidity that’s rarely heard…. Mr. Werner is a clear virtuoso, and when he solos, there’s wit everywhere, with cliches dragged out of the closet to poke fun at or rhythmic bumps added for humor.”
                                         – Peter Watrous, The New York Times 
“Werner, patient as a spider, spins a web of lyric calm and dancing beauty and fills in the corners, not budging far from his center….Werner’s set – one of the very best in a series [Live at Maybeck Hall] that has quietly become a bellwether for pianists of our era – merely shows one gentler aspect of an extraordinary gifted artist.”
                                                                                                          – The Boston Phoenix 
“Top Ten Jazz Records of 1994 – by John Leisenring
Kenny Werner ‘At Maybeck’ (Concord Jazz CCD-4622)
Solo piano: oh my, what wonderfully melodic music.“
– Pitch Weekly 
“…he deals in transparent textures, relying on a gentle touch, child-like melodies and triads, which he then balances with passages fleshed out with flowing chords, a sophisticated harmonic palette and a gift for clever, subtle voice-leading… If you need a reference, think of Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans and the rainy-day hues of Miles’ ‘Kind of Blue’, but Werner plays far beyond his influences.”
                                                                                          – Dayton Daily News 
“From the melodic inversions of Bill Evans to the modal excursions of McCoy Tyner, Werner offers piano jazz that’s both intellectually stimulating and hard-driving.”
– The Denver Post 
“Whether soloing or interpreting, Werner takes you outside, 
but not by any route you’ve followed before. 
You never know where he’s going, but 
every place he takes you is a delight.”
– Keyboard Magazine            
“Live at Visiones spotlights [Werner] with his longstanding trio in a live setting that captures all the edgy urgency of his piano style… he works miracles of deconstruction on a set of jazz standards… [this trio] is one of the most imaginative and skillful jazz combos on the scene.”
                                                                                                      – The Lincoln Journal Star 
“…what sets him apart [from mere imitators of style] is
his ability to consistently reach what he calls ‘an ecstatic space’ when he plays,
and communicate a rare depth of insight and feeling to the listener.”
– Gramophone 
“…’All the Things You Are’ is an example of Werner looking in all directions – in, out, and around the melody – to bring it all home to the listener. It’s art, of course, but, best of all, it’s entertainment. This is one for your collection.”
– JazzTimes 
[on Kenny Werner Trio: ‘Live at Visiones’ (Concord)]
“It’s a record that resubstantiates that hoary ‘sound of surprise’ cliché
often in the air around jazz. 
When you think they’re going to zig, they zag…. 
Easily one of the most adventurous mainstream trio dates of 1995.”
      – Musician 
[on Kenny Werner Trio: ‘Live at Visiones’ (Concord)]
“…they fearlessly and interactively evolve shapes as they go. (Werner says, ‘We are always looking for something to illuminate this Moment.’)… The exhilaration of listening is that you experience epiphanies at the exact moment that the trio discovers them.”
      – Stereophile