Home » Jazz Musicians » T.K. Blue

T.K. Blue

T.K. Blue, also known as Talib Kibwe, was born in New York City of a Trinidadian mother and Jamaican father. T.K. began playing music at the age of 8 years old on trumpet. After two years his interest shifted to academic and athletic endeavors... He returned to his musical studies in High School while playing the flute.

He took lessons from Billy Mitchell, the legendary tenor saxophonist with Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, eventually pursuing music as a career after receiving a full academic scholarship to New York University, where he began playing soprano & alto saxophone. He earned a bachelor's degree in both music and psychology. T.K. Blue went on to earn a master's degree in music education from Teacher's College at Columbia University.

T.K.Blue photo credit by R.Andrew Lepley

"Coming to Jazzmobile in NYC is what did it for me. I got involved with Jazzmobile, where we studied jazz theory, harmony, sight- reading, rhythmic training, improvisation and big-band performance. It was just like going to school. I studied with Jimmy Heath, Chris Woods, Ernie Wilkins, Frank Foster, Sonny Red and Jimmy Owens. Thad Jones and Billy Taylor would come by from time to time to give their knowledge and support."

T.K. also studied at Jazz Interactions with Rashaan Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef and Joe Newman. He also studied at The Henry Street Settlement with Billy Mitchell and Paul West and at The Muse with world-renowned bassist Reggie Workman.

T.K.Blue photo credit by R.Andrew Lepley

While living in the East Village of NYC during his undergraduate studies, T.K. took lessons from many elders. An early highlight in his career was when he played with Don Cherry at the famous "5 Spot" jazz club in Greenwich Village. T.K. also studied with Nadi Qamar and learned how to play the African hand piano or kalimba. Jaki Byard hired T.K. to play in a band called The Apollo Stompers.

Abdullah Ibrahim, the great South African pianist formerly known as Dollar Brand hired T.K. " I was able to develop when I was in Abdullah’s band because he didn’t put any restraints on me in soloing. It’s an honor and privilege to be in the company of masters when they let you stretch out." Working in this band offered the opportunity for Kibwe to travel to many nations and deliver performances via many media forms, while absorbing the music and culture of people around the world.

Tags

5
Album Review

T.K. Blue: The Tide of Love

Read "The Tide of Love" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


T.K. Blue is an artist who is proficient on both the alto saxophone and flute; he has released a striking album entitled The Tide of Love that offers a diverse and engaging musical journey through various genres of the jazz spectrum. In this session, he is accompanied by several superb musicians, including Grammy-nominated Stefon Harris on vibes, along with pianist James Weidman, bassist Gavin Fallow, drummer Lenny Robinson and guitarist Ron Jackson. The group recorded an album of creativity, originality, ...

6
In Pictures

Celebrating Randy Weston: An Evening with T.K. Blue and the African Rhythms Alumni Quartet at Dizzy's

Read "Celebrating Randy Weston: An Evening with T.K. Blue and the African Rhythms Alumni Quartet at Dizzy's" reviewed by Dave Kaufman


Randy Weston passed away at the age of 92 in September 2018, leaving an indelible mark on the jazz community. Just weeks prior to his transition, he had given a performance at the Nice Jazz Festival and was in fine form. Weston enjoyed many accolades in the last chapter of his life including being recognized as an NEA Jazz Master and receiving a prestigious Doris Duke award. He was a noted composer, contributing many jazz classics to the jazz pantheon, ...

44
Album Review

Santi Debriano & Arkestra Bembe: Ashanti

Read "Ashanti" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Panama-born bassist Santi Debriano's Arkestra Bembe is a nonet whose centerpiece is the bembe music of west Africa. During the Coronavirus pandemic, Debriano began hosting weekly bembes (musical celebrations) in the basement of his Staten Island, New York home, gradually assembling a group of musicians who would comprise the Arkestra and perform Debriano's compositions and arrangements. The result is Ashanti, an impressive studio recording whose framework is jazz but whose heart and soul are clearly in bembe. ...

6
Album Review

T.K. Blue: A Warm Embrace

Read "A Warm Embrace" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Saxophonist and flutist T.K Blue's tenth album A Warm Embrace is an enchanting and elegant work with richly textured harmonies and captivating melodies. Even though not all of the tracks are strictly speaking ballads there is a sublime sense of poetry that runs throughout the record and is its prevailing and cohesive motif.The solemn “Requiem for a Loved I" dedicated to several deceased musicians is intensely, yet quietly, lyrical and somber. It opens with a pensive and melancholic ...

5
Album Review

T.K. Blue: A Warm Embrace

Read "A Warm Embrace" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


What do you do after you've already toured the world with jazz legends, helmed a successful college jazz program and recorded everything from bluesy fare to world-meets-jazz music to Latin-ized takes on Charlie Parker? If you're saxophonist T.K. Blue, you turn to the soft(er) and the subtle, delivering an album that's texturally rich yet wholly transparent. Blue, best known as a longtime sideman and musical director for pianist Randy Weston, has done all of the above and ...

162
Album Review

T.K. Blue: Latin Bird

Read "Latin Bird" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Saxophonist Charlie “Bird" Parker is primarily remembered as an incendiary, revolutionary, improvisatory soloist, but he often expressed his style through composition, and many of Parker's original tunes became part of the modern jazz canon. Latin Bird, saxophonist T.K. Blue's label debut for Motema, his ninth release as a leader, reworks eight of Parker's tunes in Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Caribbean and related rhythmic styles.Blue serves as musical director for pianist Randy Weston, with whom he's played for more than three ...

165
Album Review

T.K. Blue: Latin Bird

Read "Latin Bird" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


New York City native TK (Talib Kibwe) Blue has seven previously released CDs to his leadership credit. His eighth, Latin Bird, bears promise as his most integrated and well-conceived. Blue interprets nine pieces composed by or closely associated with Charlie Parker's Latin muse. “Chi Chi" and “Si Si" were givens, the former enjoying both Blue's alto saxophone and flute playing over Parker's circuitous lines. Steve Turré demonstrates, on “Chi Chi," what a raving master of the creamiest trombone tone he ...

Read more articles
6

Recording

T.K. Blue's "Amour" on Dot Time Records - Release May 12 + Tour Schedule

T.K. Blue's "Amour" on Dot Time Records - Release May 12 + Tour Schedule

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Amour features: T.K. Blue, Etienne Charles, Warren Wolf, Zaccai Curtis, Winard Harper, Roland Guerrero, Gregoire Maret, Essiet Essiet, Jeff Reed & Eric Kennedy! May 6 CD Release Performance Clermont Vineyards & Winery 241 County Route 6 Germantown, New York 12526 (845) 663-6611 May 15 CD Release Performance Dino's Upstairs 700 W. 125th St. at 12th New York, NY 10027 212-694-1777 ...

74

Radio

The Jazz Session #269: TK Blue

The Jazz Session #269: TK Blue

Source: AAJ Staff


170

Interview

T.K. Blue Goes Latin Bird Hunting on His Latest

T.K. Blue Goes Latin Bird Hunting on His Latest

Source: The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins

Saxophonist-flutist-educator-bandleader T.K Blue, longtime music director for Randy Weston's African Rhythms ensembles, will soon release Latin Bird, his Latin treatments of the music of the immortal Charlie Parker. T.K. is of Caribbean descent and has extensive experience in island grooves, Latin music, and a thorough immersion in African rhythms—not only from his two decades plus traveling the byways with Randy, but also from spending several years in France, where he worked with many African artists and bands. We recently sought ...

129

Recording

"Latin Bird," Motema Music Debut by Alto Saxophonist T.K. Blue, Due for March 8 Release

"Latin Bird," Motema Music Debut by Alto Saxophonist T.K. Blue, Due for March 8 Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

T.K. Blue's new CD Latin Bird, his first for Motema Music and ninth as a leader, takes the alto saxophonist back to his musical and personal beginnings. Charlie “Bird" Parker was a major early inspiration for T.K., and eight of Parker's classic compositions are ingeniously reworked in Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, Brazilian, and New Orleans second-line rhythms. The New York-born son of parents from Jamaica and Trinidad, and a mainstay of jazz master Randy Weston's band since 1980, Blue is profoundly fluent ...

183

Performance / Tour

TK Blue Quartet Performs at Minton's Playhouse on April 25th

TK Blue Quartet Performs at Minton's Playhouse on April 25th

Source: All About Jazz

Saxophonist and bandleader TK Blue performs with his quartet - featuring Benito Gonzales on piano, Belden Bullock on bass, and McClenty Hunter on drums- at The Uptown Lounge at Minton's Playhouse on Saturday, April 25, 2009. The show begins at 9:00 p.m. with a $10 cover charge.

Saxophonist, flautist, bandleader, and composer TK Blue's career in jazz began with early tenures performing with artists ranging from Don Cherry to Nadi Qamar to Abdullah Ibrahim. TK continued his development and work ...

125

Recording

Saxophonist TK Blue Celebrates Release of CD "Follow the North Star" May 16 & 17 @ NYC's Lenox Lounge

Saxophonist TK Blue Celebrates Release of CD "Follow the North Star" May 16 & 17 @ NYC's Lenox Lounge

Source: MFA - Mitchell Feldman Associates

Who: Alto Saxophonist/Flutist TK BLUE (aka Talib Kibwe) with Trombone = Steve Turre - 5/16 & Benny Powell - 5/17 Piano = Onaje Allan Gumbs - 5/16 & James Weidman - 5/17 Essiet Okon Essiet (bass) - 5/16 & 17 Willie Martinez (drums - 5/16 & 17 Kevin Jones (percussion) - 5/16 & 17 What: Celebrating Release of new CD “Follow The North Star" (JaJa Records JJ002) When: ...

Primary Instrument

Saxophone

Clinic/Workshop Information

1. TRADITIONAL AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS WITH FOCUS ON THE AFRICAN PIANO CALLED “THE KALIMBA” - solo
2. THE DIFFERENT STYLES OF JAZZ - for group
3. JAZZ IMPROVISATION - solo or group
4. THE ROLE OF EACH INSTRUMENT IN A JAZZ BAND WITH VOCALIST - for group
5. BLUES WORKSHOP - instrumental
6. BLUES WORKSHOP - vocal
7. WORKSHOPS ON JAZZ PERFORMANCE IN BIG BAND AND SMALL ENSEMBLE

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ashanti

Jojo Records
2023

buy

The Tide of Love

Arkadia Records
2023

buy

Eyes of the Elders

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

Thank You, Duke!

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

Magic Moments

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

It​’​s About...

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

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