Kirk Whalum (born July 11, 1958) is an American R&B and smooth jazz saxophonist and songwriter. He toured with Whitney Houston for more than seven years and soloed on her single "I Will Always Love You", the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. He was also featured on many Luther Vandross albums, most often playing on the singer's covers of older pop and R&B standards such as "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "I (Who Have Nothing)", and "Love Won't Let Me Wait".
Kirk Whalum | |
|---|---|
 Kirk Whalum in 1987 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | July 11, 1958 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Smooth jazz, pop, R&B, gospel |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Saxophone, flute |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros., Sony, Columbia |
| Website | kirkwhalum |
Whalum has recorded a series of well received solo albums and film soundtracks, with music ranging from pop to R&B to smooth jazz. His musical accomplishments have brought him a total of 12 Grammy nominations. He won his first Grammy award in 2011 for Best Gospel Song ("It's What I Do", featuring Lalah Hathaway) alongside lifelong friend and writer Jerry Peters.
Biography
edit
Kirk Whalum was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Melrose High School and Texas Southern University, where he was a member of the renowned Ocean of Soul Marching Band. In addition to singing in his father's church choir, Whalum learned to love music from his grandmother, Thelma Twigg Whalum, a piano teacher, and two uncles, Wendell Whalum and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, who performed with jazz bands around the country. He told John H. Johnson's magazine Ebony Man in a 1994 profile, "The music I like to play and write encompasses the four elements I grew up with: Memphis R&B, gospel, rock, and jazz. The emphasis, though, is on melody, period."[1]
In 1986, he performed at Jean-Michel Jarre's giant concerts Rendez-Vous Houston and Rendez-Vous Lyon. At each concert, he performed the track "Last Rendez-Vous," also known as "Ron's Piece," in place of Jarre and Whalum's mutual friend, saxophonist and astronaut Ron McNair, who died in the Challenger disaster.
Whalum recorded a duet with R&B singer, Jevetta Steele called "Love is a Losing Game" in 1993.
Whalum has worked on a number of film scores, including for The Prince of Tides, Boyz n the Hood, The Bodyguard, Grand Canyon and Cousins. He toured with Whitney Houston for more than seven years and soloed in her single "I Will Always Love You", the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. He was also featured on many Luther Vandross albums, most often playing on the singer's covers of older pop and R&B standards such as "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "I (Who Have Nothing)", and "Love Won't Let Me Wait".
Whalum has recorded a series of well received solo albums and film soundtracks, with music ranging from pop to R&B to smooth jazz. His musical accomplishments have brought him a total of 12 Grammy nominations. He won his first Grammy award in 2011 for Best Gospel Song ("It's What I Do", featuring Lalah Hathaway) alongside lifelong friend and writer Jerry Peters.
In 2005 Whalum recorded the Babyface Songbook (2005) with R&B icon Babyface's best songs of the past 15 years, including "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)," "I'll Make Love to You," "When Can I See You," and others. Joining in the intimate and stylish proceedings are other smooth jazz notables, including trumpeter Rick Braun, soprano saxophone player Dave Koz, and guitarists Norman Brown and Chuck Loeb among others. That same year, he also performed a cover "Any Love" on the album Forever, For Always, For Luther, which included other smooth jazz greats, like the aforementioned Dave Koz, bassist Marcus Miller, tenor saxophonist Richard Elliot and alto saxophonist Mindi Abair covering Vandross' well-known songs. Whalum also contributed to the 2008 documentary film Miss HIV.
On June 20, 2014, Whalum was the inaugural Jazz Legend honoree of the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee. In September 2015, it was announced that Whalum would be joining the faculty of Visible Music College in Memphis, Tennessee.[2] In September 2018 he received the coveted honor of a Brass Note on Historic Beale Street in his native Memphis.
Personal life
editWhalum married his wife Rubystyne (Ruby) in 1980. They have four children, including musician and marathoner Kyle, as well as Courtney, Kori, and Evan.[3] Whalum converted to Catholicism in 2022, after having served for years as a Protestant minister.[4][5] He has also been a volunteer barber at a Catholic Worker house in Memphis.[6]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit- Floppy Disk (1985)
- And You Know That (1988)
- The Promise (1989)
- Caché (1993)
- In This Life (1995)
- Joined at the Hip w/ Bob James (1996)
- Colors (1997)
- For You (1998)
- Unconditional (2000)
- Hymns in the Garden (2001)
- The Christmas Message (2001)
- Groovin w/ BWB (Braun, Whalum, Brown) (2002)
- Into My Soul (2003)
- Kirk Whalum Performs the Babyface Songbook (2005)
- Roundtrip (2007)
- Promises Made: The Millennium Promise Jazz Project (2008)
- Everything is Everything: The Music of Donny Hathaway (2010)
- More of Everything is Everything – ep (2010)[7]
- Romance Language (2011)
- Human Nature w/ BWB (Braun, Whalum, Brown) (2013)
- BWB w/ BWB (Braun, Whalum, Brown) (2016)
- #Lovecovers (2017)
- Humanite (2019)
- How Does Christmas Sound? (2021)
- Epic Cool (2024)
The Gospel According to Jazz Series – Live
edit- The Gospel According to Jazz: Chapter I (1998)
- The Gospel According to Jazz: Chapter II (2002)
- The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter III (2010)
- The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter IV" (2014)
Live albums
edit- Live from the Detroit Jazz Festival 2013 (2014)
Compilation albums
edit- The Best of Kirk Whalum (2002)
- Ultimate Kirk Whalum (2007)
As sideman
editWith Joey DeFrancesco
- Where Were You? (Columbia, 1990)
Singles
edit- "Mad About the Wolf" from Simply Mad About the Mouse (1991)
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot R&B/ Hip-Hop Songs [8] |
Adult Cont. [9] |
R&B/ Hip-Hop Airplay [10] |
Smooth Jazz Airplay [11] |
Hot Gospel Songs [12] |
Adult R&B Airplay [13] |
Gospel Airplay [14] | |||
| 1993 | "Love Is a Losing Game" (Kirk Whalum featuring Jevetta Steele) |
51 | 49 | 52 | — | — | — | — | Caché |
| 1999 | "All I Do" | — | — | — | — | — | 18 | — | For You |
| 2001 | "Real Love" (Kirk Whalum featuring Wendy Moten) |
— | — | — | — | — | 33 | — | Unconditional |
| 2002 | "Can't Stop the Rain" | — | — | — | — | — | 35 | — | |
| 2006 | "Whip Appeal" | — | — | — | 14 | — | — | — | Kirk Whalum Performs the Babyface Songbook |
| "I'll Make Love to You" | — | — | — | 30 | — | — | — | ||
| "Give Me the Reason" | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | Various Artists – Today's #1 Smooth Jazz Radio Hits! | |
| 2007 | "The Wave" (2007) | — | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | Roundtrip |
| 2009 | "Juicy" (Brian Simpson featuring Kirk Whalum) |
— | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | Brian Simpson – Above the Clouds |
| 2010 | "He's Been Just That Good" (Kirk Whalum featuring Lalah Hathaway) |
— | — | — | — | 21 | — | 21 | The Gospel According to Jazz: Chapter III |
| "Love, Love, Love" (Kirk Whalum featuring Rick Braun) |
— | — | — | 23 | — | — | — | Everything Is Everything | |
| 2012 | "Spend My Life with You" | — | — | — | 14 | — | — | — | Romance Language |
| 2013 | "Man in the Mirror" (bwb) |
— | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | bwb – Human Nature |
| 2014 | "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (bwb) |
— | — | — | 1[15] | — | — | — | |
| "Billie Jean" (bwb) |
— | — | — | 22 | — | — | — | ||
| 2015 | "Sunday's Best" | — | — | — | 22 | — | — | — | The Gospel According to Jazz: Chapter IV |
| "Swagster" (Jeff Golub featuring Philippe Saisse and Kirk Whalum) |
— | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | Jeff Golub – The Vault | |
| 2016 | "Trust God" (J. Moss featuring Kirk Whalum) |
— | — | — | — | 23 | — | — | J. Moss – GFG Reload |
| "bwb" (bwb) |
— | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | bwb – BWB | |
| "Triple Dare" (bwb) |
— | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | ||
| 2017 | "I Want You Girl" (bwb) |
— | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | |
| "Go Home" (David Garfield featuring Kirk Whalum and Paul Jackson Jr.) |
— | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | David Garfield – Jammin' - Outside the Box | |
| 2019 | "Korogocho" (Kirk Whalum featuring Marcus Miller and Barry Likumahuwa) |
— | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | Humanité |
| 2020 | "Kwetu" (Kirk Whalum featuring Ghetto Classics and Aaron Rimbui) |
— | — | — | 20 | — | — | — | |
| "SJL" (Kirk Whalum featuring Keiko Matsui) |
— | — | — | 22 | — | — | — | ||
| 2022 | "Journey to Love" (Nathan Mitchell featuring Kirk Whalum) |
— | — | — | 29 | — | — | — | Nathan Mitchell – It's My Time |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | |||||||||
References
edit- ^ Ebony Man, April 1994, p. 10.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum to join Visible Music College". Retrieved 2015-09-19.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum | Encyclopedia.com". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
- ^ Adams, Vernon (2022-11-01). "Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
- ^ Lenten Preaching: The Rev. Kirk Whalum, 24 March 2021, retrieved 2022-11-03
- ^ Whalum, Kirk. "Kirk Whalum: The gift of God's image in the poor". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
- ^ "More Of Everything Is Everything – EP" Amazon.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: Adult Contemporary". Billboard.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay". Billboard.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: Smooth Jazz Airplay". Billboard.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: Hot Gospel Songs". Billboard.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: Adult R&B Airplay". Billboard.
- ^ "Kirk Whalum: Gospel Airplay". Billboard.
- ^ "bwb: Smooth Jazz Airplay". Billboard.
External links
edit- https://archive.today/20140624174441/http://nmaam.org/celebration-of-legends/ [dead link – 8/31/2017]
- "My Music Matters: Tribute to NMAAM 2014 Jazz Legend Kirk Whalum"
- Official website
- Mack Avenue Artist Page Archived 2015-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
- “In Black America; Kirk Whalum,” 1992-10-01, KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
