On his first offering in three years, Kenny Garrett delivers the album that has been promised since his very auspicious debut Introducing Kenny Garrett back in 1984.
On Beyond the Wall, the saxophonist and composer has continued his deep exploration of modal jazz.
The album is dedicated to McCoy Tyner, the king and progenitor of modal pianists, and it sounds as if Garrett observed that tutelage well, though the music is unmistakably his own.
The core band on the set features drummer Brian Blade, bassist Robert Hurst, and Mulgrew Miller on piano.
Pharoah Sanders and Bobby Hutcherson appear on all but two of these nine cuts (Sanders appears on these, the pair on five).
The beautiful introductory "Calling" that opens the set features Garrett and Sanders playing long, droning, Eastern-mode lines, threatening to explode at each moment as Miller takes a couple of pages of Tyner's book and hovers over both the front line and the rhythm section.
On the title cut, Garrett's longstanding love affair with hard bop comes popping in the front door as Miller's solo goes deep into sharp arpeggios, playing in an augmented mode à la Freddie Redd, while never losing his own sense of elegance as the front-line players take him on in the head.
Garrett's solo carries within it some of the circular techniques he learned from Trane's records, but keeps its bop angles sharp and tough.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CallingKenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 09:37 | 22 MB | 65 MB |
| 2 | Beyond the WallKenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 07:33 | 17 MB | 50 MB |
| 3 | Qing WenKenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 09:46 | 22 MB | 66 MB |
| 4 | Realization (Marching Towards the Light)Kenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 06:10 | 14 MB | 32 MB |
| 5 | NowKenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 11:48 | 27 MB | 75 MB |
| 6 | GwokaKenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 11:48 | 27 MB | 75 MB |
| 7 | May Peace Be Upon ThemKenny Garrett | Kenny Garrett | Play | 08:15 | 18 MB | 55 MB |
| 8 | Trunami Song | Kenny Garrett | Play | 04:47 | 10 MB | 22 MB |
| 9 | Kiss The Skies | Kenny Garrett | Play | 09:40 | 22 MB | 63 MB |
| 79 mins | 181 MB | |||||
| 79 mins | 508 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Anderson | Photography |
| 2 | Darius Baptist | Stylist |
| 3 | Karina Benznicki | Production Supervisor |
| 4 | Brian Blade | Drums, Main Personnel |
| 5 | Rogerio Boccato | Main Personnel, Percussion |
| 6 | Eli Cane | Production Coordination |
| 7 | Dawn Caveness | Vocals |
| 8 | Barron Claiborne | Photography |
| 9 | Nedelka Echols | Vocals |
| 10 | Steven Epstein | Mixing, Producer |
| 11 | Kenny Garrett | Arranger, Composer, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Producer, Sax (Alto) |
| 12 | Wang Guowel | Erhu |
| 13 | Jonathan Handelsman | Violin |
| 14 | Neil Humphrey | Cello |
| 15 | Robert Hurst | Bass Instrument, Main Personnel |
| 16 | Bobby Hutcherson | Main Personnel, Vibraphone |
| 17 | Susan Jolles | Harp |
| 18 | Earlene Lewis | Vocals |
| 19 | Genea Martin | Vocals |
| 20 | Mulgrew Miller | Main Personnel, Piano |
| 21 | Tim Olmstead | Assistant Engineer |
| 22 | Doyle Partners | Design |
| 23 | Pharoah Sanders | Main Personnel, Sax (Tenor) |
| 24 | Jason Stasium | Assistant Engineer |
| 25 | Geovanti Steward | Vocals |
| 26 | David Stoller | Assistant Engineer |
| 27 | Quan Tucker | Stylist |
| 28 | Robert Edridge Waks | Editorial Coordinator |
| 29 | Kevin Wheatley | Vocals |
| 30 | Todd Whitelock | Engineer, Mixing |
| 31 | Neil Wilson | Groomer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |