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Stax Music Academy jazzed

By Pamela Perkins
perkins@commercialappeal.com

Kirk Whalum to be artist in residence

They have studied legendary musicians, visited with them and performed with them.

But after Stax Music Academy students perform Saturday with internationally renowned jazz saxophonist and native Memphian Kirk Whalum, they’ll get to keep him for a while.

Whalum will perform at the academy’s free annual Winter Concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Lausanne Collegiate School’s Elder Performing Arts Center, 1381 W. Massey -- kicking off a formal relationship with academy students as their first artist in residence.

He is slated to play five songs with the Stax students -- in the midst of his "Cool Jazz Christmas" tour with David Benoit, Jonathan Butler and Michael Franks. The Stax date falls between the tour’s Friday performance in Naples, Fla., and Sunday performance in Fort Lauderdale.

"I’m so excited," said Whalum, who plans to move from Nashville back to his hometown early next year. "I see this as an entree. ... I have more expectations of really interacting with them on the long term."

Having recorded and performed with the likes of the legendary Nancy Wilson, the late Luther Vandross, Barbra Streisand and Quincy Jones, Whalum is perhaps better known in pop culture for his sax solo on Whitney Houston’s "I Will Always Love You."

Stax students have performed with such music legends as Mavis Staples. They’ve had lectures from the late Rufus Thomas and Regina Carter. They have performed for Stevie Wonder and Bono.

But their time with Whalum will be different. They will have much more of it.

"Kirk is not passing through like everybody else. Kirk is like part of the Soulsville family here -- not just a one-shot deal," said academy director Ashley Davis. "This is a major musical icon that they can reach out and touch and ask questions about life. And I think it’s incredible."

Whalum will spend at least a year with academy students heading master classes, workshops and mentoring sessions.

He remembered hearing academy students perform at last year’s multi-artist "Legacy: A Tribute to Rufus Thomas" benefit concert.

He was impressed with their musicianship, he said.

But his moments with them will go beyond music. It will be about truth and responsibility.

"It’s one thing to teach as study. It’s another thing ... to teach kids how to perpetuate this music with integrity. And that’s huge to me. That’s huge. Not only because of the legacy of the greats in both jazz and R&B. But also because of the backdrop of the current ’urban’ music culture -- where there’re some unbelievably creative young musicians, many of whom are void of any real, true integrity."

He was referring to those musicians who inundate their songs with violent, lecherous and materialistic lyrics.

"You don’t have to be a playa to be a player," he added.

-- Pamela Perkins: 529-6514