Kenny Garrett

Kenny Garrett is a jazz saxophonist. He was born in Detroit, MI in 1960. His father was a tenor saxophonist. Kenny's career took off when he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1978, then led by Duke's son, Mercer Ellington. Three years later he played in the Mel Lewis Orchestra (playing the music of Thad Jones) and also the Dannie Richmond Quartet (focusing on Charles Mingus's music). In 1984, he recorded his first album as a bandleader, Introducing Kenny Garrett. From there, his career has included 11 albums as a leader and numerous Grammy nominations. During his career, Kenny has played with many jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Brian Blade, Bobby Hutcherson, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones, and Mulgrew Miller. Garrett's music sometimes exhibits Asian influence, an aspect which is especially prevalent in his 2006 recording, Beyond the Wall.

Kenny Garrett Speaks Through The Soul of His Jazz

by Dean Nardi
February 10, 2025

Mental bungee-jumping may not be their sport of choice, but a cerebral ledge exists that sooner or later every jazz musician must leap off. One day, ready or not, tuning up or shaking down their instrument, they will glance in a mirror, hug a pregnant mother-to-be, second-line a funeral, walk in the deepest, dark woods, chance a liaison, wake in the night with a heart beating like Brian Blade hitting a snare, receive a message from another dimension, get lost ...

Festivals Talking

Moers Festival Interviews: Kenny Garrett

by Martin Longley
March 4, 2023

The release of Kenny Garrett's Sounds From The Ancestors album (Mack Avenue, 2021) has reinvigorated his live performances, as the saxophonist tours heartily with an expanded band that's heavy on the Afro-Latin percussion. In recent times, multi-instrumentalist Garrett has been gigging with this dedicated Sounds From The Ancestors line-up, heavily devoted to the album, but not averse to making key tune selections from past decades. Garrett likes to pair up the instruments, with Melvis Santa and Rudy Bird playing percussion ...

Album Review

Chick Corea: The Montreux Years

Read "The Montreux Years" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
September 26, 2022

If there is anything more ambitious than curating an extensive, comprehensive collection covering the history of an artist, it is collating selected works which vividly outline a particular timeline or theme. Chick Corea's The Montreux Years is a fine example of the latter; this seventh edition in the archive series devoted to the iconic festival not only reflects the late composer and pianist's technical skills, but also his eclectic stylistic tastes. And that is not to mention his fondness for ...

Album Review

Kenny Garrett: Sounds From The Ancestors

Read "Sounds From The Ancestors" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
December 24, 2021

On Sounds from the Ancestors, Kenny Garrett's fifth album for Mack Avenue and his first since Do You Dance! (Mack Avenue 2016), the former saxophonist for both Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis, turns to the past for inspiration. From the Motown and gospel music he was weaned on as a youth growing up in Detroit, to the the hard bop of Blakey and post-bop of John Coltrane , Garrett wears his influences proudly on his sleeve on this ...

Interview

Kenny Garrett: The Value of Ancestors

by R.J. DeLuke
December 6, 2021

Saxophonist Kenny Garrett has always respected the music of his predecessors. He knows its importance. He knows the value of the tradition, knowledge and innovation passed on to new generations of musicians. He's recorded, for example, dedications to John Coltrane (Pursuance, Warner Bros., 1996), as well as Joe Henderson and Sonny Rollins (Trilogy, Warner Bros., 1992)). Heck, Garrett, undoubtedly one of the finest alto saxophonists (any style saxophone, for that matter) of his generation, has played with many ...

Album Review

Miles Davis: Merci Miles! Live at Vienne

Read "Merci Miles! Live at Vienne" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
October 28, 2021

So great was Miles Davis' legend, so magnetic his aura, that the crowds and the adulation only increased towards the end of his life—a period when he was playing arguably the least progressive music of his career. This double-CD recording of a concert at the Jazz à Vienne Festival from 1991 is a case in point. Ten thousand people packed into the Roman amphitheatre that July evening, while another two-and-a-half thousand who had turned up without tickets were shepherded onto ...

Radio & Podcasts

George Mraz & Kenny Garrett

by Joe Dimino
October 10, 2021

We begin the 720th Episode with storied saxophonist Kenny Garrett with a track off his 2021 release Sounds from the Ancestors. This episode also features new music from Russell Ferrante, Papo Vazquez, Maria Grand and Yoonmi Choi. We give a fitting send off to a great friend of Neon Jazz and a wonderful friend from childhood in Mr. Bill Denny with a Frank Sinatra tribute. Finally, we say so long and thank you to George Mraz. Dig this new hour ...

Event

Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. To Present Very Special 'Elden Ring' Jazz Music Streaming Event

Source: Asbury PR Agency
October 19, 2022

Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. will present a very special Jazz music streaming event – broadcast live from Hollywood and featuring Grammy Award-winning musician Kenny Garrett in collaboration with up-and-coming talent Takuya Kuroda—on December 3, 2022. The “Elden Ring: A Night in the Lands Between” music event will be held at Hollywood, California’s famed Bourbon Room and available via livestream to viewers in the US. Select songs from Elden Ring, including recognizable melodies from the game’s soundtrack, will be performed ...
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