Kirk Whalum: Jazz Saxophonist Still Speaking the Gospel According to Jazz

Kirk Whalum's talents have taken him all over the world. He's worked with the likes of Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, and Quincy Jones, to name a few.
He's an eight-time Grammy nominee and two-time Stellar Award winner. His uncle and nephew are both saxophonists (his nephew recently toured with Maxwell), his brother is a singer, and his son is a bassist and singer-songwriter.
Music is not only in Whalum's blood (he played the sax solo on 'I Will Always Love You'), but it's also a family affair.
His latest release, 'The Gospel According to Jazz III,' is slated for release next month via Rendezvous Records. This talented act isn't letting fame go to his head, though. He's humble and rooted in his faith. If you don't know, get familiar.
We recently caught up with Whalum to talk all things music and where Whalum's most likely to find inspiration.
You grew up in a musical family as a pastor's kid. Would you say music was with you from the very beginning?

Absolutely. Music chose me. But even if I hadn't been that intrinsically destined to do music, I was still surrounded by it. My grandmothers were both musicians.
It's a family affair.
It's a family affair, and that's something I kind of resisted for the longest time. At a certain point, I had to go, "Wait a minute." It was a family affair long before I got here.
Your latest project is 'The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter III,' which will be released on March 16. Tell me about that.
'The Gospel According to Jazz' is about that pursuit of excellence in one's craft as a worship to God. My devotion to that instrument and trying to really master an instrument is my primary worship to God. I certainly worship him with my mouth. I just praise God. I try to serve him in whatever way I see fit. Loving my wife, well, that's a worship to God. I do that not just because I love her, but because I know that pleases God.
'The Gospel According to Jazz' is so profound not because the songs are likable. It's deeper than that. When people see the DVD, they're transfixed; 5- and 6-year-olds will sit there and watch that whole DVD. I've seen it happen too many times, because you're watching the results of years of devotion to an instrument. We've got all the hype around something like 'AmerKirk Whalumican Idol,' and rightfully so, it's really cool. But, there is nothing like seeing somebody who has been playing an instrument or singing for years.
You mentioned 'American Idol.' Those kind of shows are for entertainment and quick output. What would you say about the current music scene?

What I do is absolutely not traditional jazz. I love that music, and I will always be pursing that music, because when I listen to Coltrane or Michael Brecher or Charlier Parker or Dexter Gordon or Miles Davis, I hear something that I aspire toward. So, that music will always inspire me and I will always want to do it. I hear Branford Marsalis and Kenny Garrett...these are my heroes.
But I grew up in Memphis, so really I'm a soul musician. I'm a gospel, soul, R&B musician. Jazz came later for me when I was in high school.
About the current scene, I'm really excited in many ways about hip-hop, because it is the jazz of today. It's the music that encapsulates black culture and kind of presents it to the world.
I grew up with hip-hop, and it's becoming harder to defend it. But it's like a love-hate relationship.
Love-hate, yes. I do have lots of problems with misogyny and violence, particularly misogynistic culture. And the bling-bling. All that is so useless to me. There is that kind of exaggerated bravado that is part of our culture and that is fun. But when the industry gets a hold of that and takes it to a direction that's negative and destructive, especially, toward women, I resent that. And I don't think that's the heart and soul of hip-hop.
Your experience growing up on hip-hop is similar to, say, my parents growing up on jazz. When I hear The Roots, I hear, absolutely, a direct umbilical cord back to that era. There's this improvisation, like the New York tap dancers and the cats who used to challenge each other. All of that was a part of black culture. And black culture is the salt of the whole world culture. And it sounds kind of arrogant, but it's true. And I do believe hip-hop is the modern-day jazz.
Talk about the fusion of jazz and gospel.
There was never a time when jazz and gospel were not together, it was just a well-kept secret.
Why was this a well-kept secret?
Because of the fact that it was culturally convenient in the religious setting to have this sort of duality in place where there was secular life and sacred life. So, that way you can say what is wrong and what is right. That is sort of a convenient way of dealing with the issue of temptation. But when you can approach life from a holistic point of view, that it's just one life and you try to live that life with integrity and the way that pleases God, you're going to have bad days, you're going to have the blues. And so, what are you gonna play when you have the blues? You gonna play a gospel song? You probably need to play the blues.
It's a very interesting dichotomy in which secular audiences are not wanting to be imposed upon with your gospel message, but by the way, they really do want to hear good news. Who don't want to hear good news, especially right now? We all need some good news. Then you got your religious folks, who are highly offended by your secular. So we move our bodies. Is that somehow supposed to be wrong?
In Africa we were moving our bodies.
We were moving our bodies. It's a part of our culture. I'm insulted that somehow people try to make it taboo. Now, we're going back. Not just black people, but the world is appreciating Africa's preeminence when it comes to things cultural, things artistic. When we talk about the civilized versus uncivilized argument, African intelligence and wisdom was an oral tradition. They didn't have to write it down. And you couldn't take that away.
Talk about success and what that means.
I think we sell ourselves short, and I have done that when it comes to the pursuit of success. A hit record. Material success. Sometimes, we can sell ourselves short, because really the main thing is that God would be pleased with what I have accomplished on this instrument.
'The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter II,' is a two-disc CD that fuses jazz and gospel. The album will be released March 16 by Rendezvous Records -- and distributed by Mack Avenue Records -- and includes a special hi-definition DVD. You can learn more about Kirk Whalum and his music at kirkwhalum.com