Seeking to interpret trumpeter/composer Kenny Wheeler's music with the boundless sense of adventure and nuance needed to honor his unique writing, Bay Area guitarist Jason Keiser was particularly intrigued by Wheeler's penchant for assembling unusual instrumental configurations as he made preparations for Kind of Kenny. Teaming with the one-of-a-kind, master guitarist John Stowell as the ensemble's rhythmic and harmonic base, Keiser enlisted lyrical improvisers, trumpeter Erik Jekabson and saxophonist Michael Zilber, and vocalist Danielle Wertz, acting as a horn-like melodic voice and as a singer on Wheeler & Norma Winstone's "For Jan."