Kenny Garrett Presents

MUSIC: Jazz
Kenny Garrett is an alto sax guru who has spent the length of his career, from its origins, surrounded by some of the greatest musicians playing. His career flourished when he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1978, which was at the time led by Mercer Ellington, the son of the man himself. As one can imagine, this opened more than a few windows for Garrett. Three years later he played in the Mel Lewis Orchestra and also the Dannie Richmond Quartet, his most renowned collaboration being with the great Miles Davis himself. Garrett has been compared to John Coltrane – searching spiritually with his horns. Garrett, like all of the other great musicians and artists that came before him, just keeps moving forward in still another of his many creative directions. The latest of those ideas became Sketches of MD, a capricious excursion into open-ended melodies placed over grooves that reflect the artistry of key sidemen from the many groups of Miles Davis to John Coltrane to himself. Summing up his own artistic concept, Garrett relates, “You have to keep living and gaining more experiences. It is then that you can create. Whenever I do music, I do it to the highest level I can do it. That’s what it’s about. When I’m not here, will the music speak for itself?”

PERSONNEL: Kenny Garrett (alto saxophone) and Kona Khasu (bass) more TBA

CONNECTIONS: Miles Davis, Woody Shaw, Marcus Miller, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Brian Blade, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones, Mulgrew Miller.

LATEST RECORDING: Sketches of MD – Live at the Iridium (Mack Avenue Records, 2008).

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