Daily jazz blog, Marlbank

What to expect on Kenny Garrett's upcoming album

A big influence on Immanuel Wilkins - one of the hottest new generation players around on the US scene today and of course a jazz history maker with Miles Davis and fantastic live - Kenny Garrett's Who Killed AI? out in April will surely be one of …

Published: 11 Feb 2024. Updated: 4 months.

MAC1210 Kenny Garrett by Evelyn Freja 72dpi RGB PR01

A big influence on Immanuel Wilkins - one of the hottest new generation players around on the US scene today and of course a jazz history maker with Miles Davis and fantastic live - Kenny Garrett's Who Killed AI? out in April will surely be one of the most talked about - and listened to - releases.

We have a few more details about what's in store.

The album to be released on the US Mack Avenue label was recorded mostly in Garrett’s New Jersey living room, Garrett collaborating with Svoy - aka Misha Tarasov, who goes way back with Garrett as Svoy appeared as a singer on a track on 2012’s Seeds From the Underground, and wrote a string arrangement for 'Brother Brown,' on 2013 Garrett album Pushing the World Away. Here he is credited as contributing ''programming, vocals and piano''. There are no other artist personnel involved on the album, the vast majority of the tracks are Garrett compositions. He says in pre-release publicity: “The first two songs are really reminiscent of Miles. The way I’m stretching the melody — that’s how I played with Miles.”

Garrett, now 63, was with Miles from 1987-91 and on the new album track 'Ascendence,' Garrett even does an impression of Miles’ gravelly speaking voice and wordplays on a classic Bitches Brew track by entitling one of the new album's tracks 'Miles Running Down AI'. The altoist's last album was 2021's Sounds From the Ancestors which was his first album in 5 years. On the upcoming release Garrett is mostly on alto sax but plays soprano sax on the electronic laden 'Divergence Tu-dah,' and also covers Rodgers & Hart’s 'My Funny Valentine' using a drum and bass beat. We'll update this story by sharing any available tracks released by the label ahead of the release when made available. Kenny Garrett, photo: Evelyn Freja

Updated on 1 March 2024 with the super quick viscerally flying-into-overdrive drum 'n' bass grounded track 'Ascendence' added, the album's opening track

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Geoffrey Dean Quartet, Foundations, AMP Music ***1/2

Very solid straightahead fare from US pianist Geoffrey Dean anchored winningly by bassist Harish Raghavan on this new studio album recorded in Brooklyn, the quartet completed by the very pure and tender sounding trumpeter Justin Copeland and by …

Published: 10 Feb 2024. Updated: 5 months.

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Very solid straightahead fare from US pianist Geoffrey Dean anchored winningly by bassist Harish Raghavan on this new studio album recorded in Brooklyn, the quartet completed by the very pure and tender sounding trumpeter Justin Copeland and by drummer Eric Binder. The very well chosen tunes melding the familiar with the not so screamingly obvious numbers are Wayne Shorter's 'ESP,' Miles Davis' 'Nardis,' Sam Rivers' 'Cyclic Episode,' Elmo Hope's deftly swinging 'Low Tide,' Peter Bernstein's 'Jet Stream,' which was on the guitarist's 1995 album Signs of Life, Andrew Hill's 'Yokada Yokada' from Hill's classic Blue Note 60s album Judgment, Duke Pearson's 'Is That So' and Sonny Clark pieces Cool Struttin's 'Blue Minor' and 'My Conception' from the Blue Note album of the same name issued long after Clark's death. There's a lot of poise to Dean's comping and break out solos. And Copeland is excellent on the Pearson piece, his style landing in the Jeremy Pelt domain quite often. While the tunes often go back many years the quartet do not sound stuck in the past at all. Enjoyable stuff and a great introduction to Dean's highly individualistic playing.

l-r in the photo: Eric Binder, Harish Raghavan, Geoffrey Dean, Justin Copeland