Kenny Garrett · Festival Jazz à Porquerolles (France) · 2026
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Live video · Jazz · 2020s
Kenny Garrett — Jazz à Porquerolles, 2026
Why this recording
Broadcast by ARTE Concert, this show filmed on 14 July 2026 at Porquerolles runs over an hour and a half, which points to a full set rather than an edit of highlights. It documents the Sound from the Ancestors programme, played by a line-up in which percussion and voice fill two of the five chairs: Rudy Bird on percussion and Melvis Santa on vocals and percussion, alongside Keith Brown on piano and Ronald Bruner on drums. The festival was marking its 25th anniversary that year, making this one of the nights of a milestone edition.
Simon Janvier, live-sound professional and editor of the catalogue
A live concert filmed on July 14, 2026 at the Jazz à Porquerolles festival and broadcast by ARTE Concert, this capture features Kenny Garrett, one of the greatest alto saxophonists in contemporary jazz. A former sideman of Miles Davis and Art Blakey, a Grammy Award winner and named an NEA Jazz Master in 2023, the American shares the fervor of his album Sound from the Ancestors. On stage, his music becomes a ritual where the roots of modern jazz fuse with the energy of gospel, Detroit soul and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, in the spirit of Coltrane, Aretha Franklin or Marvin Gaye. Backed by a high-flying quintet — Keith Brown on piano, Ronald Bruner on drums, Rudy Bird on percussion and Melvis Santa on vocals and percussion — the virtuoso saxophonist marries technical rigor with festive urgency, alternating incandescent ballads and rhythmic trances. A reference jazz concert, filmed in the Mediterranean setting of the island of Porquerolles, to measure the stage power of a living legend.
Personnel & credits
- Kenny Garrett — alto saxophone
- Keith Brown — piano
- Ronald Bruner — drums
- Rudy Bird — percussion
- Melvis Santa — vocals, percussion
