Kenny Garrett

Coming up as a teen through the Duke Ellington Orchestra and serving a memorable five-year stint with the iconic Miles Davis, saxophone virtuoso and 2023 NEA Jazz Master Kenny Garrett is “one of the most admired alto saxophonists in jazz after Charlie Parker” (The New York Times). He returns to SFJAZZ with his latest ensemble.

A Detroit native, Garrett came of age in the 1980s and was grouped in with the so-called neo-traditionalist “Young Lions” of the era, but it was clear from the start that his adventurous spirit defied easy categorization. Beyond his work with Davis and the Ellington band, Garrett performed with trumpeters Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard before releasing his 1984 debut, Introducing Kenny Garrett, and joining one of the last iterations of Art Blakey’s vaunted Jazz Messengers.

Garrett’s extensive output as a leader established the saxophonist as a masterful composer and conceptualist, with standout sessions including 1990’s African Exchange Student, 1997’s Songbook, 2003’s Standard of Language, and the expansive, GRAMMY-nominated 2006 release Beyond the Wall.

Garrett received a GRAMMY nod for the 2009 all-star Five Peace Band Live with McBride, Chick Corea, and John McLaughlin, and his latest is the 2021 Mack Avenue quintet release Sounds from the Ancestors, featuring tributes to Roy Hargrove, Art Blakey, and Tony Allen.