{"id":8422,"date":"2024-05-12T09:50:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T14:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=8422"},"modified":"2024-05-13T07:27:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T12:27:40","slug":"journey-kenny-garrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/journey-kenny-garrett\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journey: A Conversation with Kenny Garrett on ‘Who Killed AI?’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Miles Davis once remarked, \u201cIt’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change.\u201d This emphasis on evolution does not necessarily mean needing to adapt a new voice. The key is to retain your core identity while stretching into new realms. Miles certainly did, and so have many of his protegees, including his last saxophonist, Kenny Garrett. One in an incredible lineage of alto saxophonists who worked with Miles – including Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz, Cannonball Adderley, Jackie McLean, Sonny Stitt, Gary Bartz, and Sonny Fortune – Garrett could have easily and safely built his career simply around his time with the Dark Prince of Jazz. Instead, the NEA Jazz Master has continually pushed toward different ideas and sounds. The latest iteration of his expansiveness can be found on Who Killed AI?<\/em> (Mack Avenue, 2024), a project with electronic producer Svoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Killed AI? sounds <\/em>equally like a Kenny Garret record <\/em>and <\/em>like something he has never done before. Similar to Miles, he has honed a distinct voice on his instrument of choice. In this case, one that is dark and powerful with hues of the Blues and Coltranian spiritualism. As a result, despite the environment surrounding him, a careful and knowledgeable listener can often identify Garrett\u2019s horn. That is true whether on a hip hop record by Q-Tip or Guru, a pop album by Sting, or several releases under his own name. A great example on Who Killed AI?<\/em> can be found in his solo on \u201cAscendence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Garrett is also not afraid to mess with his identifiable tone. At various points on Who Killed AI?<\/em> pedals morph his saxophone into sounding like entirely different instruments. On \u201cDivergence Tu-dah,\u201d an electric guitar. On \u201cTranscendence,\u201d a trumpet with a wah-wah mute. But even his modified instrument has an ineffable quality that ties it to his more traditional sax work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album itself is a compelling exploration of electronic music. Svoy builds textures that can be propulsive one moment and quiet and contemplative the next. But perhaps more than anything else, Who Killed AI? <\/em>is playful and fun. You can sense the laid-back environment of its creation; it was recorded in Garrett\u2019s living room. In a career abundantly filled with impressive recordings, Who Killed AI?<\/em> is perhaps Kenny Garrett\u2019s most electrifying to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PostGenre: Who Killed AI? <\/em>is a fantastic record.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kenny Garret: Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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PG: It is different from your prior works, and in the notes to the recording, you indicated that you think most listeners would not expect you to sound as you do on it. Do you feel at all limited by other people’s expectations of how your music will sound? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KG: You know, I remember hanging out with Brother Yusef Lateef for about a year. We used to talk every day. I was a fan of his music but quickly realized that I didn’t know his history like I thought I did. The more we talked, and the more I researched him, I soon realized he was the first person to make World Music. As I started to check out his other music – some string arrangements and other orchestral work and also some funky stuff – I became very confused. I felt like I really didn\u2019t know about his music or, really, about him after all. I think by the time someone is introduced to his music, he had already moved on to something else. As another example, when I first learned about Cannonball [Adderley], I, initially, didn’t know about his playing with Miles [Davis]. I only knew his music from the late \u201860s, like  \u201cMercy, Mercy, Mercy.\u201d And it surprised me when I realized it was the same guy as on Kind of Blue <\/em>(Columbia, 1959). <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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