Kenny Kirkland

A brilliant bassist, Charnett Moffett shares a fault with Ron Carter: their own records have a great excess of bass solos. Moffett's debut as a leader features him with diverse groups ranging from duets to quartets and including such fine players as tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, keyboardist Kenny Drew Jr, guitarist Stanley Jordan, drummer Al Foster, Kenny Kirkland on keyboards and several of his relatives (including his father, drummer Charles Moffett). Unfortunately, Charnett (who wrote all eight songs except "Mona Lisa" and "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise") dominates the solo space.

Jamaican-born bluesman Kirkland has always stretched the boundaries of his music and on this outing moves further into contemporary waters. Guest stars abound on this album, and Kirkland's idiosyncratic guitar work is answered and abetted by appearances from Tab Benoit……

Beat Street is an American 1984 drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s; breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti. It began with a script written by Steven Hager titled "Looking for the Perfect Beat" and in 2012, Hager put that original script up at smashwords.com. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to various elements of early hip hop culture. Kenny Kirkland (Guy Davis) is a budding disc jockey and MC, and his younger brother Lee (Robert Taylor) is a hardcore b-boy who dances with Beat Street Breakers (the New York City Breakers). Kenny's best friends are Ramon (Jon Chardiet), a graffiti artist known by his tag, "Ramo", and Chollie (Leon W. Grant), his self-styled manager/promoter.

Who's Who? is a studio album by American jazz musician John Scofield. It features two different bands, one acoustic and one electric. The acoustic group, featuring Scofield's then-employer Dave Liebman on saxophones, Eddie Gómez on bass, and Billy Hart on drums, recorded "The Beatles" and "How the West Was Won". The electric group, featuring future Kenny Kirkland on keyboards, Anthony Jackson on electric bass, Steve Jordan on drums, and Sammy Figueroa on percussion, recorded the balance of the album.

Chico Freeman - The Pied Piper (1986) {Blackhawk Records BKH508-2 rec 1984}
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© 1984, 1986 Blackhawk Records | BKH 508-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz / Reeds

The first of two Chico Freeman recordings for the soon-defunct Black-Hawk label finds the leader switching between tenor, alto, sopranino, soprano, bass clarinet, bass flute and C flute. John Purcell "only" limits himself to five reeds (alto, baritone, oboe, alto flute and piccolo), and the horns are joined by either Kenny Kirkland or Mark Thompson on piano, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Elvin Jones. The many combinations of reeds highlight this set, which has originals by Freeman, Mark Thompson ("Monk 2000"), John Stubblefield, Alex North and Cecil McBee ("Blues on the Bottom"), in addition to the standard "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise." The style ranges from straight-ahead to more exploratory sounds, and this colorful album is worth searching for.

Anyone who's been listening to modern jazz has been aware of Jeff "Tain" Watts ever since the classic Wynton Marsalis quintet of the mid-'80s. The general public was introduced to him through his stint on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show – a profitable excursion that nevertheless meant there was an eight-year gap between his debut, Megawatts, and its 1999 successor, Citizen Tain. It was worth the wait, however. Watts scored an enormous coup by reuniting Wynton and Branford Marsalis for the first time in a decade, and he surrounded them with excellent musicians – their trombonist brother Delfeayo Marsalis, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, bassist Reginald Veal, and pianist Kenny Kirkland, in what sadly turned out to be one of his final sessions.

As usual, bassist Charles Fambrough assembled an impressive all-star group for this CD. Such players as altoist Kenny Garrett, Grover Washington, Jr. (on soprano), trumpeter Roy Hargrove, pianist Kenny Kirkland and even pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (making a rare appearance as a sideman for his own "Beautiful Love") are heard from, along with a few overlapping rhythm sections.

Carla Bley - Heavy Heart (1983) {WATT Works–ECM Records WATT/14–817 864-1 rel 1984}
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© 1984 WATT Works / ECM Records | WATT/14 / 817 864-1
Jazz / Post Bop / Neo Bop / Keyboards

In a fanciful press release for this record, Carla Bley wrote that she wanted to make a record that would "put people in a mellow, sensual mood" as opposed to getting them all riled up as usual. She must have meant some of this ironically, for while Heavy Heart is a somewhat bright, light-minded album, there are plenty of dark undercurrents to be heard. For example, take the fascinating "Light or Dark," where a light, happy texture is undercut by Hiram Bullock's intruding dissonant guitar and Kenny Kirkland's discordant comping.

Branford Marsalis (on tenor and soprano) and his 1987 quartet (which also includes pianist Kenny Kirkland, bassist Delbert Felix and drummer Lewis Nash) stretch out on a wide repertoire during this generally fascinating set. Very much a chameleon for the date, Marsalis does close impressions of Wayne Shorter on "Yes and No," John Coltrane ("Crescent City"), Ben Webster (a warm version of "I Thought About You"), Ornette Coleman ("Broadway Falls") and even Jan Garbarek (on a long rendition of Coleman's "Lonely Woman"). Random Abstract also includes a jam on Kirkland's "LonJellis," a piece without chord changes. This is one of Branford Marsalis' most interesting (and somewhat unusual) recordings.