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Kenny Garrett & Lisa Henry
January 2006,
Dalhousie Institute
Kenny Garrett
Low-keyed and soft-spoken, Kenny Garrett lets his music do the talking, and he communicates clearly through his
post-bop saxophone styles, exuding easy listening from his alto horn. After years of apprenticeship with legendary
jazz bands including the Jazz Messengers and the Woody Shaw Quintet, Garrett came to prominence during the 1980s
as Miles Davis's sideman. After Davis died, Garrett moved into his own spotlight as the bandleader of the Kenny
Garrett Quartet. In addition to his various album releases during the 1990s, he contributed to dozens of works
by his fellow jazz musicians. He is an incessant philosopher, an innovator, a composer, and a musical arranger.
Garrett was born in Detroit, Michigan, on October 9, 1960. He was the second of four siblings. Musically, his parents
were heterodyne; his mother enjoyed rhythm and blues, while his father listened to jazz. Garrett's father was a
professional saxophone player, and as a result, Garrett developed an early interest in music. His father taught
him the scales, and Garrett started to play his own saxophone at the age of nine or ten. He enjoyed the instrument
and brought it with him to school, playing whenever he found the opportunity. Garrett got his original groove in
his hometown of Detroit, where he worked with Marcus Belgrave. Belgrave, well known for his community spirit, mentored
Garrett for a time.
In high school, Garrett played gigs around town on the weekends, and predictably each Monday morning he stumbled
tardily into the classroom. Despite his youth, he had matured into an old-school jazzman by the time he graduated,
maintaining a reserved and skeptical cynicism for academia. In 1978, he gained acceptance to the famous Berklee
School of Music. Coincidentally, he received an invitation to join Mercer Ellington on tour. Garrett subsequently
chose not to attend Berklee and elected instead to tour with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Garrett avowed repeatedly
that he never regretted the decision to forego school because his experience with the orchestra proved invaluable
and contributed to his development as a uniquely skilled musician. From the Ellington Orchestra, Garrett's career
led him to stints with Freddie Hubbard's band and with Woody Shaw.
After many months on the road, Garrett moved to New York City in 1980. There he played with a band called Out of
the Blue. He cut his debut album on the Criss Cross label as a bandleader with the Kenny Garrett Quintet. The album,
released in 1984, was called Introducing Kenny Garrett.Around that same time, Garrett joined with Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers. In 1986, still with Blakey, Garrett earned a spot as sideman for Miles Davis. He worked with Davis
for five years and developed a singular musical rapport with Davis. Additionally, Garrett continued as a bandleader,
recording for the Atlantic Jazz label. He released Prisoner of Lovein 1989 and African Exchange Studentin 1990.
When Davis passed away in 1981, Garrett stepped full speed into the bandleader's shoes, having apprenticed for
nearly 20 years and having worked with the great jazz players of history.
For the duration of the decade, Garrett settled into a quartet with Nat Reeves on bass, drummer Jeff "Tain"
Watts, and Kenny Kirkland on piano. Garrett recorded a handful of albums on the Warner Brothers label during the
remainder of the 1990s, including Black Hopein 1992, Trilogyin 1995, and Pursuance: The Music of John Coltranein
1996. His next two albums--Songbookin 1997 and Simply Said in 1999--were written almost exclusively by Garrett
himself. In July of 1997, he and his band spent three days in the Netherlands at the North Sea Jazz Festival at
The Hague, and in June of 1998 they performed on the Symphony Space concert ticket at the JVC Jazz Festival along
with jazz violinist Regina Carter. Following Kirkland's untimely death late in 1998, the Kenny Garrett Quartet
regrouped to include former Toni Braxton drummer Christopher Dave, bassist Nat Reeves, and Shedrick Mitchell on
piano. Pianists Nick Smith and Mulgrew Miller also contributed guest performances.
Garrett paid homage openly and often to his predecessors and heroes in American jazz. His 1996 remembrance of John
Coltrane, called Pursuance: The Music of John Coltrane,featured Pat Metheny on guitar, drummer Brian Blade, and
Rodney Whitaker on bass. The recording earned recognition as the Jazz Album of the Year, according to a readers'
poll from Down Beat. Garrett himself was named Alto Saxophone Player of the year in the same poll. His self-produced
1999 release, called Simply Said,reflects the influence of his half-decade stint with Miles Davis.
It is Garrett's philosophical attitude that rules his music. He is a paradoxical purist in the juxtaposed arena
of jazz and subscribes to an idealistic school of thought and lets the truth resound from his horn. He is a "righteously
devoted musician working toward a purpose somewhat higher than mere entertainment," Down Beat'sHoward Mandel
said of Garret. "His horn's cries are honest...." Despite his traditional, "hard-knocks" approach
to performing jazz, Garrett refuses to discount the validity of other music styles and encourages musicians to
experiment with popular music as well as jazz, in a quest for new and stimulating arrangements. "Young musicians
shouldn't be afraid to take the opportunity to play popular music. It doesn't mean you have to stay there,"
he confided to Martin Johnson of Down Beat. Garrett's own compositions often surprise his listeners because his
music adheres closely to rhythm and form, in apparent opposition to Garrett's impressive improvisational style
and reputation. Billboard's Steve Graybow said that Garrett is "one of the music's most dynamic and adventurous
players...." yet he has composed "songs that he hopes will nurture the next generation of jazz musicians."
On Songbook, his 1997 Warner Brothers release, Garrett revealed what he called his "softer side," according
to Mandel. "I'm trying to tell a story in a different way with the same jazz language my heroes employed...
That's why I try to mix my music up [and] play something for everybody," Garrett said.
Evolution is the paradigm that rules Garrett's art. In adherence to his belief that to do is to learn and to further
his quest for stimulating new styles, Garrett spent time beyond his years of band apprenticeship working at times
with artists from schools of music foreign to modern American jazz. On tour with Sting for Amnesty International,
Garrett traveled to Africa, Greece, and Indonesia. While in Indonesia he spent some weeks working with a local
saxophone player named Ibu (Ebu) from whom Garrett learned Polynesian rhythms and the Balinese scale. Additionally,
he spent time working with vocalist Jano Okiko of Japan and learning Japanese scales. Garrett also plays both the
flute and the soprano sax at various times. He has worked with vibraphonist Bobby Hutchinson on Skyline in 1999
and appeared with the Kenny Garrett Quartet at the Montreaux Jazz festival in Switzerland. Also in 1999, Garrett
joined Mulgrew Miller and others in contributing to the Urban Dreams album produced by saxophonist Ron Brown's
Mankind Records. The non-profit project helped to sponsor a community-based arts program for children in Austin,
Texas.
Lisa Henry
The latest score card on Lisa Henry is in. Listen to her description of Kenny Burrell's tally:
"He looked me straight in my eye and said, 'Let me tell ya something. Some got it, and some ain't. Honey,
you got it!' I was stunned. Tears were coming to my eyes. I cried. This is Kenny Burrell saying this to me! I thought,
'Okay God, you can take me now. Kenny says I got it...'"
When I first met Lisa Henry at the Eblon Club in Kansas City's historic 18th & Vine district, it was clear
this child was born to sing jazz. Even then, as a 20 year old novice, she brought spirit, soul and heart to the
stage rarely seen in singers of any age.
Her first portfolio contained letters of recommendation from different club owners and one from her mentor, Everette
DeVan. There were also articles from local newspapers announcing the up & coming jazz singer's first successes.
Today, her press kit includes letters from President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, pianist and entertainer Steve
Allen (in which he asks her to try some of his latest material), and John Loiello, Associate Director of the United
States Information Agency.
Ms. Henry's showing at the 1994 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition has spawned opportunities galore.
As second place winner of the first Monk vocal competition at Washington D.C.'s prestigious Kennedy Center last
November, Lisa became eligible for an additional accolade -- the "Jazz Ambassador Award" -- as described
in Mr. Loiello's letter in which he congratulates her for winning a 1995 tour of seven countries in Africa with
the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition Winner's Band.
Recent successes have not spoiled Lisa Henry. If anything, they have provided her with an opportunity to further
crystallize her thinking and solidify her goals. The same spirit, soul and heart witnessed that night at the Eblon
Club years ago continue to drive this still very young lady.
Lisa tells her own story well: a story of the past, the present and the future. |
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