# CD review: Kenny Garrett – Sounds from the Ancestors 2021: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2021/08/29/cd-review-kenny-garrett-sounds-from-the-ancestors-2021-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2021-08-29T11:26:21+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**For his 20th album as a leader, Kenny Garrett combines the musical history of 
Detroit with the rich influence of his ancestry.**

Sounds From the Ancestors is the alto saxophonist and composer’s fifth album with
Mack Avenue; it follows 2016’s Do Your Dance.

The album reflects the tradition of jazz, R&B and gospel in Garrett’s hometown of
Detroit while reverberating with both ancestral and contemporary sounds pulled from
France, Cuba, Nigeria and Guadeloupe.

“The concept initially was about trying to get some of the musical sounds that I
remembered as a kid growing up — sounds that lift your spirit from people like John
Coltrane, A Love Supreme; Aretha Franklin, Amazing Grace; Marvin Gaye, What’s Going
On; and the spiritual side of the church,” Garrett says. “When I started to think
about them, I realized it was the spirit from my ancestors.”

The title track showcases Garrett’s love for Afro-Cuban jazz, and It’s Time to Come
Home draws from Garrett’s experiences playing with iconic Cuban pianist and composer
Chucho Valdés. Hargrove pays tribute to the late, great trumpeter and composer Roy
Hargrove while also slyly referencing John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. When the Days
Were Different channels Sounds of Blackness’s 1991 gospel classic Optimistic, and
For Art’s Sake pays homage to drummers Art Blakey and Tony Allen.

For the recording of Sounds from the Ancestors, Garrett enlisted a core ensemble
of musicians he has recorded and toured with in the recent past: pianist Vernell
Brown, Jr., bassist Corcoran Holt, drummer Ronald Bruner and percussionist Rudy 
Bird.

The album also features guest appearances from drummer Lenny White, pianist and 
organist Johnny Mercier, trumpeter Maurice Brown, conguero Pedrito Martinez, batá
percussionist Dreiser Durruthy and singers Dwight Trible, Jean Baylor, Linny Smith,
Chris Ashley Anthony and Sheherazade Holman. On a couple of cuts, Garrett even plays
the piano and sings.

Garrett’s career has included stints with Miles Davis, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers,
Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The Grammy
Award winner has been an acclaimed solo artist for more than 30 years, and he’s 
recognized as one of modern jazz’s most influential living masters.

01. It’s Time to Come Home (9:49)
 02. Hargrove (5:14) 03. When the Days Were Different(
8:08) 04. For Art’s Sake (8:05) 05. What Was That- (8:32) 06. Soldiers of the Fields–
Soldats des Champs (10:55) 07. Sounds from the Ancestors (7:10) 08. It’s Time to
Come Home (Original) (9:47)

**Kenny Garrett – sax**
 **Vernell Brown, Jr. – piano** **Corcoran Holt – bass****
Ronald Bruner – drums** **Rudy Bird – percussions** **Dwight Trible, Jean Baylor,
Linny Smith, Chris Ashley Anthony , Sheherazade Holman – vocals**

![Kenny Garrett - Sounds from the Ancestors - Amazon.com Music](https://i0.wp.com/
images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61ictqbo8oL.jpg?resize=640%2C640&ssl=1)

### _Related_