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Kenny Garrett was born in Detroit in 1960. His musical education began virtually at birth. His father was a tenor saxophonist and therefore, young Garrett constantly heard jazz around the house. He discovered jazz greats Charlie Parker and John Coltrane while in high school, and studied sax with Bill Wiggins. Planning on attending university, Garrett changed his mind when, in 1978, he was given the opportunity to join The Duke Ellington Orchestra, led by Duke's son, Mercer. He stayed with the band for three-and-a-half years.

Moving to New York in 1982, Garrett worked with The Mel Lewis Orchestra, playing the music of Thad Jones, and with Dannie Richmond's quintet, which performed the music of Charles Mingus. 1985 was Kenny's watershed year; he performed and recorded with Blakey (Feeling Good on Delos and Hard Champion on Pro Jazz), and also with Shaw, Hubbard and OTB (for Blue Note).

A year later, Garrett heard that Miles Davis was looking for an alto player. He sent the trumpeter a tape, and after only a few phone calls, Kenny was hired. He played with Miles about five years and played on four Warner Bros. Records albums with the jazz giant: Amandla, Dingo (Michel Legrand), Live Around The World and Miles Davis and Quincy Jones: Live at Montreux, the latter being Miles' final recording (he died in September, 1992).

Kenny made his first solo album, Introducing Kenny Garrett, for Criss Cross Records, then followed it up with two fine albums for Atlantic: Prisoner of Love and African Exchange Student. He also made recordings with Donald Byrd, Hubbard, Mulgrew Miller, Cedar Walton, Wallace Roney and others. In all, Garrett has appeared on over 100 recordings, either as leader or sideman.

In August of '96 Rolling Stone named Garrett "Hot Jazz Artist" in the annual "hot" issue, with Steve Futterman commenting, "Garrett who's done solid work over the past decade with such top-rank jazzmen as Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw, now plays with the kind of clarity, strength and personality that bespeaks experience mated with wisdom." The year ended with Kenny topping the Down Beat Reader's Poll as "Alto Saxist of the Year," with Dan Ouellette remarking that "Garrett's stunning upset unseats jazz elder Phil Woods, who dominated the Alto Saxophone category since 1975." 1997 brings completion and fulfillment. Having a keen appreciation for the legacy of jazz pioneers and innovators, Kenny is now working to create his own legacy with Songbook, a musical digest of his enormous talent, extensive experience and unique style. 2002 marked Kenny Garrett’s tenth anniversary with Warner Bros.-— a decade that brought four-star album reviews, more than 100 sideman credits, critical acclaim from Rolling Stone magazine, participation in the soundtrack of the film Love Jones, and the distinction of dethroning the stalwart Phil Woods from the top of the alto sax category in Down Beat Magazine's Readers' Poll. He is a member of drummer Roy Haynes’ Charlie Parker tribute band, Birds Of A Feather, and his celebrated affiliation with Miles Davis can be heard on the 20 disc box set, The Complete Miles Davis At Montreux.

Throughout his career, saxophonist Kenny Garrett has explored a vast spectrum of music. His muscular, melodic playing can be heard on the recordings by artists as definitive and diverse as jazz legends Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, rock royalty Sting, Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen, and progressive rap pioneer GURU.

On Standard of Language, his eighth album for Warner Bros., Kenny Garrett delivers some of his most galvanizing and forceful work to date, digging deeper into his composing while bringing a crackling vibrancy to his studio work. This music is roll up your sleeves, in your face, hard bop blowing at its best. The result is Garrett's rippling melodic songs captured in an especially resonant recording.

In Japan, gendai is a term meaning present tense. Fittingly, Garrett chose that word for the title of one of the new compositions on Standard of Language - because keeping jazz fresh and vital in the present tense has been his mission since he arrived on the scene in the early `80s. "I'm working on setting what that standard should be for my music,” he states. “On this album, we stretched--without going too far--to capture the energy we have live on stage. The best time to record is right after you've been on the road. When you tour a lot, the band gels and you start to understand how another player will react to what you do."

1984 - Out Of The Blue / Out Of The Blue

1989 - Miles Davis / Amandla

1990 - African Exchange Student

1992 - Black Hope

1995 - Triology

1996 - Pursuance: the music of John Coltrane

1997 - Songbook

1999 - Simply Said

2002 - Happy People

2003 - Standard of Language

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