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Throughout his illustrious career, saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist /composer Kenny Garrett has accumulated multiple Grammy® nominations, countless collaborations, and a long list of accolades from his peers. With Sketches of MD, Garrett adds several historic firsts to his résumé: the first live recording of the Kenny Garrett/Pharoah Sanders pairing, Garrett’s first recorded set at New York City’s famed Iridium Jazz Club, and his first release on Mack Avenue. In addition to Sanders, Garrett is joined on stage by Nat Reeves on bass, Benito Gonzales on keys and Jamire Williams on drums.
How does one follow up a recording of such powerful inspiration, preparation and execution that critics and fans alike are still shouting its praises more than two years later? That might have been the question that saxophonist supreme Kenny Garrett faced following his "poll vaulting" and multiple-award nominated 2006 release, Beyond the Wall. But, trust, it was not a dilemma for Kenny Garrett.
Garrett, like all of the other great musicians and artists that came before him, just keeps moving forward in still another of his many creative directions. The latest of those ideas became Sketches of MD, a capricious excursion into open-ended melodies over grooves that each reflect the artistry of key sidemen from Miles Davis' many groups - from John Coltrane to Kenny himself. Consisting of five compositions (and clocking in at just under an hour), Sketches of MD is a compositionally relaxed yet performance intense record of some music Kenny performed at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City with his band (Benito Gonzales on piano, Nat Reeves on bass, and Jamire Williams on drums) and special guest, tenor saxophone legend Pharoah Sanders.
"I had enough music to do a 'Beyond the Wall 2,'" Garrett states, "but I didn't want to do that. We already made that statement. Now it's about what's next. Once you try to define me, that's where problems begin because I'm not just doing one thing. I do straight ahead, I also do funk, classical and many other things. I'm always trying to challenge myself. Don't look for me to sound like my last record. I'm shifting – following what my spirit feels."
Breaking down Sketches of MD, Kenny continues, "I wanted to document the band I took on the road for Beyond the Wall while we were working with Pharoah and also write some new songs. The idea of doing the Miles-related songs just evolved. It's funkier than Beyond the Wall, but then again not really... When you think of John Coltrane's or McCoy Tyner's music, they had an ostinato, vamp kind of feel with elongated tunes. What we're doing is a little different basically because the beats are different." The result, captured before a captive audience in New York City, is a soul-stirring energy exchange. "That's because this music was as new to the audience as it was to the band," Kenny explains.
Though the opening number, "The Ring," is initially reminiscent of Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," it ultimately mirrors the magic of a John Coltrane masterwork. "I was hanging out with Pharoah at his house one day and we happened to be discussing overtones,” Kenny shares. "I came up with this riff and he told me I should work it into a tune. So when we got together for the Iridium dates, I surprised him with an outline for one. It is reminiscent 'A Love Supreme' and that's what I was going for because the nature of the overtone suggested that. As we started to rehearse the tune, it began to take even fuller shape. Pharoah came up with a harmony part for it and every night we tried it a few different ways to see how we could make those pieces fit. It's not verbatim Trane, but the idea of it came from some stuff that Trane would probably do."
Next is "Intro to Africa," the haunting afro gospel-tinged meditation that closest reflects the black history that Kenny Garrett has always been about – from the bedrock piano and organ strains to the eerie effects he puts his horn through. It's the first part of a suite that Kenny will record in its entirety in the near future. But he felt compelled to introduce this part to the world early if only because of the way it inspired Pharoah the first time he shared it with him. "I played it for Pharoah at a sound check and it immediately brought something out of him. He started singing. At that point I was just so happy that he intuitively understood it. When I wrote it, I had a feeling he'd get to it right away – be able to go to 'that place' again and reflect on some of the music he's written. This is just the intro, but it falls right in with the concept of this project being 'sketches' of larger things."
The title track "Sketches of MD" is, clearly, Kenny’s musings on Miles Davis, the music legend that Kenny had the honor and pleasure of recording and touring with the last five years of his life (1987-1991). "I'm playing a lot of 'colors' on this one...,' he explains. "It's not about improvisation as much as the melodies. At the end when we break it down and do the free for all thing where I re-harmonize the chords over the bass line, it's all my take on my experiences with Miles. It wasn't planned. It just flowed that way.
