Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kenny Garrett: Happy People

368

Kenny Garrett: Happy People

By

View read count
Kenny Garrett: Happy People
Just going over the press material for this album, I got the distinct impression that there was a pretentious sense of crossover appeal in the mix with verbiage that in effect claimed Garrett was trying to bridge the gap between jazz, hip hop, and world music. As for the music itself, let's just say that too much of what constitutes this mixed bag is simply unbecoming to an artist of Garrett's stature.

Co-producer Marcus Miller shares much of the responsibility for this cloying affair, with slap bass and banal vocals as part of the minefield, not to mention a pretentious dedication to Tiger Woods. Only when Bobby Hutcherson is present and on the cathartic "Brother B. Harper" do we really get a sense of Garrett's great talent, a talent that seems to have been sublimated for the most part since 1996's Pursuance.

Track Listing

Song For DiFang, Happy People, Tango In 6, Ain't Nothing But The Blues, Song #8, Halima's Story, Monk-ing Around, A Hole in One, Thessalonika, Asian Medley, Brother B. Harper

Personnel

Kenny Garrett
saxophone, alto

Kenny Garrett (saxophones), Marcus Miller (bass), Charnett Moffett (bass), Vernon Brown (piano), Chris Dave (drums), Marcus Baylor (drums), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Jean Norris (vocals)

Album information

Title: Happy People | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Warner Bros.

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Kenny Garrett Concerts


Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante
All In Motion
Dave Redmond
Cat & The Hounds
Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine...

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.