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T.K. Blue
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.
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T. K. Blue: Planet Bluu
by Dan McClenaghan
Is T.K. Blue the coolest name for a jazz artist? Only “Thelonious Monk" competes in the category. Blue (aka Talib Kibue) a New Yorker of Trinidad and Jamaican descent who boasts a wide-ranging career--involvements with saxophonist Sam Rivers and pianist Randy Weston (he plays on Weston's 1991, Verve Records masterpiece, The Spirits Of Our Ancestors)--showcases a bubbling with life African vibe on his 2024 release, Planet Bluu,. In his liner notes, Blue says: “Planet Bluu lies just beyond ...
Continue ReadingT.K. Blue: The Tide of Love
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, ...
Continue ReadingCelebrating Randy Weston: An Evening with T.K. Blue and the African Rhythms Alumni Quartet at Dizzy's
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, ...
Continue ReadingSanti Debriano & Arkestra Bembe: Ashanti
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. ...
Continue ReadingT.K. Blue: A Warm Embrace
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 ...
Continue ReadingT.K. Blue: A Warm Embrace
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 ...
Continue ReadingT.K. Blue: Latin Bird
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 ...
Continue ReadingRavita Jazz’s Releases 'Alice Blue'
Source:
Ravita Jazz
Ravita Jazz released Alice Blue in May of 2025. In the liner notes, jazz journalist and author Raul d'Gama Rosewrote: “Throughout Alice Blue the poetics of musical tradition are impressively maintained. The balance of melody, harmony and rhythm present in compositions and improvisation make this an album worth adding to your collection.” Bassist, composer, educator, and radio host Dr. Phil Ravita leads Ravita Jazz, a dynamic ensemble rooted in modern jazz traditions and creative innovation. As one of the Mid-Atlantic’s ...
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Backgrounder: Tina Brooks - True Blue (1960)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
No other category of artist in American history had to fight harder to have his or her creativity recognized than the jazz musician. This war was waged on three fronts—with themselves, with the culture and with their record label. If any one of these three battles was lost, the other two often collapsed as well. In the 1940s and '50s, the battle with one's self meant steering clear of drug addiction. The battle with the culture was the struggle to ...
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Loris Donatelli blends tradition and innovation in his debut album 'Blue Taxi'
Source:
Loris Donatelli
“With Blue Taxi, I wanted to create an album that serves as a bridge between tradition and innovation, where every note tells a fragment of life. It’s an intimate yet universal work, a solo project that speaks to those who love to lose and find themselves in music,” says Pescara-born guitarist and composer Loris Donatelli, describing his debut album, set for release on Wednesday, May 14, via PlayCab. Available in digital and physical formats, Blue Taxi takes listeners on a ...
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Perfection: Tommy Flanagan: In the Blue of Evening
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1960, pianist Tommy Flanagan recorded The Tommy Flanagan Trio, an album of easy-going jazz for Prestige's Moodsville line. Joining Flanagan was the exceptional Tommy Potter of bass and superb Roy Haynes on drums. By then, Flanagan had made a name for himself as a first-call sideman and would soon become Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist. While the entire album is top-notch, the track that has always stood for its sheer elegance and beauty is In the Blue of Evening. The song ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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"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 ...
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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 ...
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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: ...
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Primary Instrument
Saxophone, tenor
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
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