Kenny Garrett – Sketches Of MD / Live At The Iridium

It’s no wonder why Kenny Garrett HAS to be the main man on the saxophone.

You are talking about a cat who handles his poise on the sax with ease, patience, discipline & structure. No matter what type of setting Kenny prepares to launch his brigade of instrumental flavors, no other better place on earth couldn’t have been better than sitting down up front, close & personal at the famous Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. The night as to which he was scheduled to play with featured guest star & a legend in his own right, Pharoah Sanders!

Can you imagine the electricity that flowed that night?

Apparently so. Especially if Mack Ave. Records found the set so compelling enough to drop this phat cat project for the pure jazz lover at heart in “Sketches Of MD (Miles Davis)/Live At The Iridium”.

Track Listing:
~ The Ring
~ Intro To Africa
~ Sketches Of MD
~ Wayne’s Thang
~ Happy People

Kenny is, without a doubt & please allow me to get this off my chest, in my opinion, one of the baddest dudes on the sax. Period. Please don’t ask me again to see if I had changed my mind later. Don’t worry….my thoughts will remain the same.

And after listening to this profound, artistic club setting performance, I may have to conclude that Kenny IS the best. But I could be stretching it afar. Or maybe not, but hold on…let’s see…

He was flanked by studio guests Nat Reeves (Bass), Benito Gonzalez (Piano, Rhodes, Synth), Jamire Williams (Drums) & of course Pharoah.

Only 5 tracks. That’s all it took. 5 Tracks. Avg approx. 11 minutes per song.

Keep in mind, Kenny Garrett wrote & produced all of the tracks. There were adventurous solos, sax wailing riffs, scattered drum line beats & a well orchestrated connection between the 5 men ‘jazz clubbin’ on the stage. Can you imagine the sound acoustics at the Iridium that night?

“Happy People” was a rendition from one of Kenny’s earlier projects titled by the same name. Joyously served on the side, a la carte, was the previous, “Intro To Africa” – it is delivered with such an intense feel for bluesy music, its too easy to think of it as an imaginary theme track for a marching jazz band flowing down the eloquent streets of New Orleans. The groove line was indignant for an opening of various solos from the crew on stage, including the ivories being tickled to supremacy by Benito Gonzalez & they simply took off from there. They took flight!

The ambiance never fades with the slide of “Sketches of MD” into the mix of things. And we won’t get into “Wayne’s Thang” (Wayne Shorter). Just a quick listen to the Fender Rhodes will settle you in. This track was also a playback to an earlier release, especially the live set Kenny did with Bob James at The Montreaux. Who can remember what year that was? Its available on DVD, that’s for sure.

This CD was so well arranged, produced & mastered, the sound quality almost matched the live playback at the club. Well, depending on what type of equipment/components you may choose to play this back on…

A Masterpiece & I am not selling wolf tickets. If Mack Ave, Kenny or Pharoah sees this review, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to request a re-production of “Sketches” on vinyl: what do y’all think?

Please put this on your must-have list. And yes: If Kenny comes to your town to perform Live, please do yourselves a favor & create time to go see this cat. Get a babysitter for the kids, call in sick on the job, have your neighbors watch your pets, cancel an impending flight, cancel dinner plans, do..whatever!

(Just kiddin’)

T
The Urban Music Scene