Q&A: (Kenny Garrett)

For those who believe jazz is dying or is already dead, they've obviously never heard the music of Kenny Garrett. The famed saxophonist, who was once a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra and has played with the likes of Miles Davis, Sting, Art Blakey and Peter Gabriel, is just one of many living testaments to the vitality and evolutionary nature that defines one of America's greatest surviving art forms. Although the face of jazz is ever-changing, its core objective has and will always remain unwavering -- to express freely with a certain degree of risk and vulnerability, emotion and originality through the art of an imaginative spontaneity.

I sat down with the multi-Grammy nominee this week to talk about his two most recent albums, "Happy People" and "Standard of Language," along with topics ranging from hip-hop and folk music to Japanese culture.

Whitney Youngs: On both of your most recent albums, 'Happy People' (2002, Warner Brothers) and 'Standard of Language' (2003, Warner Brothers), you use the same players for both recordings that you use on your tours. Band leaders are known to use different players in the studio as opposed to on the road. How did you form this band and what about it has made it work for the last few years?


Garrett: Chris Dave (drummer) was recommended by a friend of mine who was telling me about this little drummer who played with Mint Condition (hip-hop band) and I said, 'Can he swing? I know he can play funk but can he swing?' At that point, I knew he could play different styles so it was never about trying to switch the drummer because of the swing. I was actually looking for a drummer who was current, meaning he understood hip-hop, R & B, but he also had a sensibility for jazz. Charnett Moffett (bassist) I've known him since he was about 17 when he played with Wynton Marsalis. He was a bad kid. Once Chris was there, I needed someone who could hang with him energywise and harmonically. With Vernell Brown (piano), I liked what he was trying to develop. I knew he needed to get together on some things, but also I understood what he was trying to do and I play enough piano to tell him exactly what it is I want.

So what exactly were you going for on both albums?

We played some music and explained to them conceptually what I wanted on "Happy People." I was trying to get more of a production, a popular kind of sound, but at the same time, we are still playing. For "Standard of Language," I wanted a live feel like we play in the club. Actually, "Standard of Language" and "Happy People" were recorded during the same time. It was recorded during Sept. 11. We were stranded out in California for four days and we didn't have anything else to do so we recorded 18 songs at that time and 11 of those songs went on "Happy People." The five tunes left over were strong, and I thought, 'Man, that's another CD right there.'

Many artists talk about how technique is what gets them either through a performance or a recording session. I know fast is a relative term, but I think you play fast and you have many notes coming through your instrument in a matter of seconds. I'm wondering if you're still conscious of technique at this point in your career?

It definitely does enter my mind; it's something that I'm hearing. It's not about a lot of notes, actually the less the better sometimes. If there's something you're trying to prove and it becomes cluttered, you might have a tendency to try and play through that. If I have an idea, I like to be able to play that and have the technical facilities to do it. I can play fast but I've never been known to play fast. If there's something you can't articulate, of course you start to think about how to incorporate that into your practice. I've played long enough that I don't have to think about that kind of technical thing. I think it's just a matter of playing, to be technical is nothing. Every musician who plays can be technical. To me, it's about being musical.

When you're not creating music, are you still thinking or talking about music? Is it something you're able to turn off?

I think in some ways it's always there even if you think it's not. I'll go on vacation and I'm supposed to be relaxing but then you start to hear the local music and think, 'Wow, that's a little different.' There's music everywhere. When you walk, there's time and so you try to cut it off but it's difficult.

As a composer, what is your process for writing the parts of other instruments?

First, I'm actually writing for the musicians. I kind of take the approach of Duke Ellington where he would write for the musicians in the band. That way you get the best possible results. But I always believe the music is coming from the creator to me. I never even try to say that it's actually me writing. I'll be watching television and hear a chord, and all of a sudden I'll like that chord and I'll go over to the piano. That chord will send me someplace else and the next thing you know I've got a tune. Sometimes, it's just a spirit. Some of my songs have actually been written in five minutes. It just came to me because it's through a process of listening to a lot of different styles of music so there is always different information and ideas coming into my mind.

The song, 'Just a Second to Catch My Breath' ('Standard of Language') is very sensual, passionate, almost operatic in a sense. What was the inspiration behind this?

I want to someday get into writing for films. I always wanted to write a ballad because a lot of those tunes are high energy. I wanted to come up with my own ballad and with this one, I was thinking about a movie score kind of melody. A lot of times, I write and I want those film producers to hear a song like that.

I know you speak Japanese and you use a lot of pentatonic scales (a scale comprising a combination of five different notes) in 'Happy People,' scales trademark to a lot of Asian music. How did your appreciation for the Asian culture, particularly Japanese, develop?

The first time I went to Japan was when I was playing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. I was 18 years old. I tried to stay in Japan and at that time, I really didn't understand why. I was just out of high school and it was very interesting to me. My friend said, 'Man, you can't stay here, you're only 18 years old. You're just out of school and you have no idea what you're thinking about.' I found that the people were very shy, they were actually shyer than I was, and it kind of brought me out of my shell.

Then was it intentional to give this kind of Asian vibe to your albums? Or did it just happen?

I think it just kind of happened. It's never planned. I think it was there and it finally had to come out. I know a lot of Japanese folk songs and I can actually do a gig of all-Japanese folk songs, but also know Chinese and Korean folk songs. The opening of "Love Supreme" (John Coltrane album) is straight-up Chinese. I heard it the other day and, oh my goodness, Coltrane was checking out Chinese music. I knew he did that but it was the first time I heard it. I usually like to listen to a lot of folk music, because it has a lot of substance and it comes from a spiritual place so it sustains me.

As a kid, what shaped your musical career? Was your natural talent enough to enable you to know this is what you wanted to do with your life? Or were there specific choices in your life that now, in retrospect, helped you to become a professional musician?

Probably in high school is when I knew what I wanted to do. I think back then I just had my saxophone I would carry around with me. The high school I went to, we barely had a band. The teacher had to make up a band, a concert band and a stage band, so I didn't go to the best schools, but my teacher went to the best schools so I wanted to go to those schools. I wanted to transfer into the best schools but what I found out was that I was able to get something I couldn't have gotten at those schools. It was just the passion I had to want to play my instrument.

So were there specific areas of music theory that you learned on your own?

The harmony and theory stuff I did learn on my own, I did learn some in high school. I was supposed to go to the Berklee College of Music but I joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra so a lot of stuff I got was from being on the bandstand. How I come up with an idea is from the way I think about or play music. That's what makes Kenny Garrett, Kenny Garrett. I didn't go to a university in the traditional sense but I think of myself going to the Duke Ellington University, the Miles Davis University or the Art Blakey University.

What were you trying to present on 'Happy People?'

"Happy People" was really about melodies. Every record has a different premise to it, but mainly I just write and once I'm finished with the writing then I try and figure out how I want to come at people. I like to challenge myself because it's important for me to figure out what I'm going to do next to keep me shedding and practicing. If you're doing the same thing, you don't have anything to practice. So you've got to keep finding a way to motivate yourself. You can either get it from other musicians and if you find that other musicians aren't doing it, then you have to set your own standard.
Listening to 'Standard of Language' may frustrate some because of its complexity. Any advice on how to get through it?

It's a challenge and I think the more you listen to it and how you listen to it is important. You just let it play. Don't think about trying to understand it, just let it play. I have CDs I've listened to for years, about 15 years, and sometimes I'll go back and hear something I didn't hear before or something. That's how it is with jazz, you just let it play. That's the beauty about jazz, there's always something new to hear.

Have you always been into hip-hop or did your drummer, who's also in a hip-hop group, open you up to the most current artists?

No, I've always been open to it; I mean I played with Miles Davis. I've always been open-minded about music so I listen to hip-hop and see what I can get from it. It's all just part of an experience. To me in some ways, hip-hop is kind of like be-bop and people get upset when I say that, but it is because it came out of a struggle. Jazz was created out of a struggle and so was hip-hop. Even the style of rapping has evolved and I can hear today's guys are getting serious because they've had a chance go to a club and hone their craft. That's how jazz came about; they were on the bandstand having jam sessions.