Kirk Whalum 'Performs The Babyface Songbook' album

Combine the matchless artistry of Kirk Whalum with the timeless melodies of pop/urban/r&b icon Babyface and you have a double serving of soul and sensitivity. Kirk Whalum performs The Babyface Songbook is instrumental music at its pure, understated and consummately performed best. From the unadorned simplicity of the album’s first note, Kirk Whalum delivers an invitation to intimate communion and passionate interplay. Far more than a collection of covers, Kirk Whalum performs The Babyface Songbook is an expansion and exploration of the soulful insight and melodic interpretation that has become a hallmark of Whalum’s career. On his Rendezvous Entertainment debut he takes romance higher and deeper, revealing a greater transparency and vulnerability.

Kirk Whalum and Babyface Edmonds share much in common. They are the same age and both are adept at performing, composing and producing. They both consistently top the charts in their respective areas of endeavor and both are known for their romantic acumen and ability to capture the heart of a song and captivate those who listen. Associated with the premier names in pop, r&b and urban, it was destined that the arc of their careers and artistry would one day intersect. Although unquestionably Babyface cuts a wider swath when it comes to name recognition, there are probably very few people who haven’t been lifted by the brilliant and plaintive sax solo offered by Whalum in Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” a single from The Bodyguard soundtrack (which also featured a Babyface composition). Countless listeners have been lifted, soothed, and energized by his soulful sax playing, pushing his album sales to over a million, a rare phenomenon in the jazz world.

Together, Whalum and the album’s producer Matt Pierson took some very deliberate and risky positions. The sax would be out front, not submerged and layered. Production would be lean and recorded live with as few overdubs as possible. Emphasis on the sonic quality of the saxophone and other instruments would be preeminent and gloss and reverb would be dialed down.

Kirk recounts, “We wanted to make a bold statement. We wanted to not just do what everyone else is doing, to use the same reverb, to use the same bells and whistles, to produce the same sound that everyone expects for a hit record. We decided to go with the strength of the sound of the saxophone, in particular, my sound, which is something I’ve taken very seriously for years and years. When I practice, I practice not just technique, but I also practice sound, really listening and developing that, the actual sound.

“We wanted to find a way to put that sound right in front of you, not cluttered or overproduced, not crowded with a lot of ambience that we felt compelled to fill this big space with. When you hear Songbook, that’s the first thing you’re aware of. We’re not the first ones to do it, but we want to make sure that we bring that nuance and subtlety to the milieu of contemporary jazz. There’s an intimacy to this treatment. It’s like lovemaking, just two people, alone, personal, passionately in love.”

Whalum’s gift for crossing genres and melding styles, for giving voice to the deepest human emotions and capturing the essence of romance and love makes him the ideal candidate for exposing the reach of Babyface’s artistry. Whalum has undressed some of Edmonds’ best loved and known songs, stripping them down to their bare essentials and in so doing, he has revealed a melodic depth, often obscured by all of the rich production, honest and insightful lyrics and vocal prowess usually associated with Babyface’s music.

The Babyface Songbook focuses on Edmonds’ strengths as a composer and on Whalum’s lyricism and power as an instrumental interpreter of song. “I had the lyrics running through my mind as I played, I wanted to really feel every word and every note, to convey the emotional intensity. As I play them, I’m singing each lyric to myself.” That union with his instrument and the song adds an irresistible warmth and richness to each track and the album as a whole.

“A really cool thing about the Babyface Songbook is this is the first time that Babyface as a songwriter has been elevated to this level,” Kirk notes. “I don’t pretend to be the one elevating him, but our treatment of him has that kind of integrity to it, that kind of dignity. In the pop world, you can be taken seriously…or not. As a pop songwriter, you can be here today and gone tomorrow. Babyface and his music have withstood the test of time. This project is a tribute to a great songwriter in the traditions of Cole Porter, Holland/Dozier and Irving Berlin. They all had the ability, through a lyric or a note, to find the common ground that unites us all, to find that something that thousands and thousands of people can feel intimately and profoundly. That is power, and that’s what these songs have. The music of Babyface goes straight to the heart.”

Kirk adds, “But here’s the catch: Many people have performed Kenny’s songs, but to do a whole instrumental tribute to him and just spotlight his melodies, that’s something new. We’re highlighting something that perhaps people have taken for granted or haven’t heard in the midst of the production. Sometimes you’re so concentrated on the lyric, it obscures the melody.” Usually producers take a melody and dress it up, embellish and add. Whalum has done the exact opposite; he’s reduced these songs to their essential elements, revealing their beauty from a distinctly different vantage point.

Producer Matt Pierson, former V.P. of Warner Jazz and responsible for signing Pat Metheny and Boney James, has long believed Kirk to be the most influential saxophonist of his generation and having worked closely with many of the best and brightest, from traditional jazz, experimental, pop, r&b and fusion, he is in a unique position to comment. Pierson played a pivotal role in Kirk’s career when he was transitioning from Columbia records to Warner Bros. Records and was instrumental in his chart-topping album For You. So when Pierson suggested a Babyface retrospective, Kirk was willing to listen. After a series of records where Whalum wore all hats (Unconditional, Into My Soul, The Gospel According to Jazz, II, The Christmas Message) composing, producing and performing (resulting in seven Grammy nominations) he was ready again to explore his gift of interpreting melodies. When Rendezvous Entertainment, the new label founded by fellow saxophonist Dave Koz, endorsed the Songbook idea, the stage was set.

Kirk comments respectfully, “Matt was the guy that put this record together. From his perspective, this was ‘the next logical thing to do.’ Matt has really applied himself in his post-straight ahead jazz years, building an understanding and a thorough knowledge of the R&B and pop scene. He put together a tremendous lineup.” That lineup includes Whalum’s BWB cohorts, guitarist Norman Brown and horn player Rick Braun, both featured on “Can We Talk.” Additionally Braun performed on the funkified jazz of “For The Cool in You” and Brown lent his amazing chops to “Whip Appeal.” Chuck Loeb also offered atmospheric guitar on “Wey U,” a track that features the breezy warmth and Latin stylings of vocalist Gabriela Anders. Additional vocal presence comes from Cedric and Victor Caldwell on the album’s opening track, “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

Christian McBride furnished stand up bass and “Lil’ John” Roberts, drums. “Christian McBride on upright bass was fundamental.“ enthuses Kirk. “When we were able to get him, that was a coup. Then we got ‘Lil’ John’ Roberts, who had played on For You and Unconditional. Through John’s warm greeting for Christian on the first day of recording, we learned that they had been high school pals in Philadelphia, which, luckily for us, created a different kind of love that you could hear on their tracks together. I had also promised myself that I wouldn’t record without ‘Lil' John’ and Alex Al after the magic they delivered on For You. Alex comes from the Minneapolis school of Prince and r&b funk. He’s an incredibly gifted jazz bassist on the lines of Stanley Clarke: fusionesque, technically advanced.” The two of them join Kirk and Keyboardist Ricky Peterson on the beautifully developed and passionately played album single, “I’ll Make Love To You.”

Peterson is only one in a stunningly diverse and uniquely expressive collection of keyboardists lending color to the emotional palate of this record. Award-winning producer and composer, John Stoddart, added amply to the mix. Kirk reflects, “He approached this with all his gifts, his chordal voicings, very classical, beautiful elements but, he also makes a true r&b statement, so you can hear the Donnie Hathaway, George Duke, Joe Sample and the Gospel. If that wasn’t enough, he added backing vocals to ‘Breathe Again.’

“Takana Miyamoto has a totally different approach, very organic. She draws something out of you. When I’m playing with her, I’m partly in control and partly not. She isn’t playing a lot. It’s very intentional. She brings the perfect chord at the perfect time to make you respond and play the perfect answer or complement. When she’s playing, you don’t want anyone to talk. That quality really comes through on ‘Betcha Never.’ Ricky added just the right touch on keyboards and B3 organ to move things along, harmonically and melodically. Every performance is rich, and so to the point.”

Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds’ vocal contribution to “I Said I Love You” was the coup de grace for Kirk. “I think it started when I was a little boy, around Christmas time when I developed the habit of not getting my hopes up until I was actually holding that special gift in my hands. Now that my very busy friend, and hero, Babyface is actually ON the CD we so painstakingly conceived to honor his gift—I guess I can do the "yessss" move! He showed up as expected with all the passion and quiet fire that he is now so famous for. Doing this tribute to Kenny was as natural and right to me as that first shot at ‘Amazing Grace’ in Sunday service when I was only 12! He's a guy I've known for a very long time—long before I knew him.”

The guest-list is completed with some bluesy dueting between Kirk and Dave Koz on the Jon B. hit, “Someone To Love.” “It’s interesting that for me, working with Dave and working with ‘Face were similar in that it was so relaxed and natural. When I worked ‘for’ Babyface the very first time I felt like we had been old buddies. That also describes the vibe in the studio when Dave and I played ‘Someone To Love.’”

For Kirk, love is not only the defining emotion it is the defining reality. He celebrates his 25th wedding anniversary this year and thus has some insight into what it takes to find love and keep it. “I hope these songs impact people’s lives in the positive, make people think about love. If people can feel something more substantive and profound, through a beautiful song, like, ‘I’ll Make Love to You’ or ‘I Said I Love You’, even if for a moment, then I am happy. If they can touch that deeper place and feel a bit of what I felt when I played these songs, then I’ve done my job.”

Besides plans for renewing his marriage vows with his wife, Ruby, at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Kirk is working on the third installment of The Gospel According to Jazz, a different collection of love songs to be recorded live in 2006. His plans for summer include a tour with the Rendezvous All Stars, a stellar group comprised of Jonathan Butler, Wayman Tisdale, Brian Simpson, and of course Kirk Whalum himself. Hitting over thirty markets across the country, the Rendezvous All Stars tour will be the biggest jazz event of the summer.

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Kirk Whalum - Performs The Babyface Songbook