Kirk Whalum

Born in Memphis, Tennessee on July 11, 1958, Kirk Whalum is a smooth jazz saxophonist who also plays pop, rock, R&B, and gospel music. Born into a musical family, he played in his high school marching band in Memphis and sang in a church choir. Apar from his own solo career, he has played with many top artists including Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross. He made his solo recording debut in 1985 with the album Floppy Disk followed by many releases including And You Know That, which topped Billboard's Contemporary Jazz albums chart in 1988. The Promise (1989) went to number 7 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart while other charting albums include Caché (number 1 in 1993), In This Life (1995), the Grammy Award-nominated Joined at the Hip with Bob James (1996), Colors (1997), For You (1999), The Gospel According to Jazz - Chapter I (1999), the Grammy Award-nominated Unconditional (2000), Hymns in the Garden (2001), and many others. He continued to receive many Grammy Award nominations for hit albums such as Christmas Message (2001), The Gospel According to Jazz - Chapter II (2002), Roundtrip (2007), Everything Is Everything: The Music of Donny Hathaway (2010), and The Gospel According to Jazz - Chapter IV (2015). Kirk Whalum won a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song for “It’s What I Do” (featuring Lalah Hathaway), which was taken from the 2010 album The Gospel According to Jazz - Chapter III. Kirk Whalum also formed BWB, a trio with trumpeter Rick Braun and guitarist Norman Brown, and recorded the albums Groovin’ (2002), Human Nature (2013), and BWB (2016). His work on film soundtracks – including The Prince of Tides (1991) and Boyz n the Hood (1991) – led to him working on The Bodyguard soundtrack and being featured on the international hit “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, with whom he worked with for seven years. Later albums in Kirk Whalum’s career include #Lovecovers (2017), Humanite (2019), and Epic Cool (2024).

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