Blending The Old With The New

One of the more memorable Washington jazz shows in recent years was Kenny Garrett's at Blues Alley on Sept. 17, 2006. Garrett had just released his landmark album, "Beyond the Wall," but as good as that studio project was, the alto saxophonist surpassed it when he came to Washington with a special guest.

"Pharoah Sanders shared the stage with the great John Coltrane," Garrett told the Georgetown crowd that night, "and now I'm blessed to share the stage with the great Pharoah Sanders."

Though Sanders won't be at Blues Alley with Garrett this week, he and other jazz greats -- including Coltrane and Miles Davis -- will be there in spirit.

Four-fifths of that Blues Alley band (Nat Reeves is now on bass) play on Garrett's new live album, "Sketches of MD," the MD being Davis, of course. Recorded in May 2007 at the Iridium nightclub in Manhattan, the album combines third-world folk music, avant-garde jazz and African American gospel in the same vein as the records Sanders made with Coltrane.

"I'm always interested in checking out other kinds of music, something different from what I'm used to hearing, because it keeps me fresh," Garrett explains. "But eventually I discovered that a lot of music is similar underneath the surface differences. Whether it's African American gospel or Chinese folk music or Japanese enka singing, that spiritual stream is flowing through them all."

The spiritual stream of the new album takes an unexpected left turn into electronic keyboards and R&B rhythms with the title track and its nod to Davis. If Coltrane was a maximalist when it came to music, Davis was a minimalist, using pauses as much as his knifelike phrases to make his points. So, it's not surprising that Garrett, who toured and recorded with Davis from 1987 through 1991, can shift so easily from sheets of sound to impressionist daubs.

But when you're playing with one of your heroes, Garrett notes, you have to balance respect and confidence. You have to pay attention and learn as much as you can, he says, but you also have to provide something that makes the collaboration worth their while.

"You appreciate what they can bring to the table," Garrett explains, "but you also appreciate what you can bring to the table. I'm looking for music that will inspire the musicians I'm playing with."

It is from those collaborations that unique sounds come, Garrett points out. "Pharoah is known for his work with Coltrane, but he's played in many styles, including R&B. What I like about this CD is you can hear his whole history in his playing; you can hear the difference between his generation and mine. When we play 'Wayne's Thang,' people say, 'Wow, Pharoah's funky,' but it's a different kind of funky," Garrett says. "He has a way of approaching the beat that's not the same as the way I approach it; it's the difference between the way they played funk in the '60s and the way we play it today."

Saying he was "blessed" to share the stage with Pharoah at that Blues Alley gig two years ago was revealing. Garrett, then a 45-year-old man in a gray cloth skullcap, glasses and half-shaved beard, kicked off the title track from the 2006 album with a series of hymnlike chants, as if responding to the preacher in the Detroit churches of his childhood. Sanders, then 65 in a bright red dashiki and sporting a snowy beard, echoed those religious shouts on his tenor sax.

Gradually those deliberate chants morphed into wilder improvisations until the two saxophonists reached the ecstatic heights of talking in tongues -- or, if you prefer, avant-garde jazz.

The emphatic rhythm section (pianist Benito Gonzalez, drummer Jamire Williams and bassist Kris Funn) pushed the horns for 10 minutes and beyond as the audience responded with shouts of encouragement.

"That was one of our first shows after the album came out," Garrett recalls, "so we were eager. And it was the first time Pharoah had played in Washington in a long time, so the crowd was enthusiastic. We fed off each other."

Feeding off each other -- and learning something from those heroes -- is just what they all do on Garrett's new CD.

Kenny Garrett Appearing Oct. 16-19 at Blues Alley (1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW). Shows start at 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets:$32.50, 202-337-4141. The Download: For a sampling of Kenny Garrett's music, check out: From "Sketches of MD":· "Sketches of MD" From "Beyond the Wall":· "Beyond the Wall" From "Triology":· "Wayne's Thang" From "Happy People":· "Song for DiFang"