Kenneth Whalum III moved to New York to get better at his sax playing. Next thing you know, he’s hanging with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, appearing on “Late Night With David Letterman” and dancing with Beyonce.
Beyonce?
Photo by Dennis Copeland
Sax player Kenneth Whalum III, now on tour with Maxwell, has worked with Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs and Jay-Z since he moved to New York City.
Whalum, 25, who played saxophone and arranged the horns on “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)” on Jay-Z’s American Gangster album, was at a party at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in New York. “She’s just so beautiful,” Whalum said. “She motioned to me. I was standing on the side of the dance floor. She was acting like she was playing the sax. She’s like, ‘Come on.’
“I didn’t want to get too close ’cause that’s the boss man’s wife. So, I just danced around. But in my head I’m thinking, ‘Man, if mom and dad could see this. If my ex-girlfriends could see this there would be no debate. I win.’”
Whalum, who’s been living in New York four years, currently is on tour with Maxwell. He has appeared on stage with Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent; toured with Combs, Snoop Dogg, Al Green and Regina Belle; and worked on recordings with Maxwell, Beyonce, Fantasia, Rhymefest, Joss Stone, Busta Rhymes and Rodney Jerkins.
“Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)” was named No. 1 on Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Best Songs of 2007.”
“I do a lot of shows in New York,” Whalum said. “I’ve sold out the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway three times now. Like packed out. My names in the flashing lights, man. It’s just such a blessing.”
“Kenneth takes all that is old and proven and merges it with the coldest sound of today,” Maxwell said. “He plays and you just want to sample it.”
Whalum, son of Sheila and Rev. Kenneth T. Whalum and nephew of noted sax player Kirk Whalum, originally was going to play drums at Kirby Middle School, but his teacher, who knew Kirk Whalum, said, “No way. You’re playing sax.”
Whalum was in a local band, NuJynisis, and, later, studied music at Morehouse College, but decided to move on. “There was a lot I had to learn. I just had to have more command over my horn.... I really wanted to be successful playing the saxophone, being a musician, so I was like, ‘Where can I go?’”
Whalum moved to New York to study at the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. He got side jobs playing sax on recordings. “Smaller stuff — just stuff to make a couple of bucks and to just be in the loop.”
His first big break was playing with Combs. “I got called out of the blue to do this thing with Diddy. It was a show. I played on the kick-off for the NFL two years ago. It really came from having my name out there a little bit.”
Combs didn’t like the horns he originally had for the show, Whalum said. “Diddy was like, ‘You guys gotta go home. I’ve got to have better than this.’ So, they called me.”
They performed “Come to Me.” “Oh, man, we wore white dress shirts with a black tie and nice fitting suits. That was a great perk playing with him, man. Rappers weren’t using horns in a lot of bands like that at that point.”
Combs took Whalum with him to play on TV shows hosted by David Letterman, Tyra Banks, Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Kimmel, and to performances in Europe.
Fashion-conscious Combs kept an eye on everything. “He fired a guitar player once for wearing Converse when he told him to wear the shoes that he provided. Black dress shoes. He provided everything from hats to ties. And the guy went out with Chucks on his feet, man. I never saw the guy again.”
Whalum and Combs became friends. “I wasn’t like a square. I’d just be myself. He liked that. His best friend told me one day, ‘Yeah, man, Puff is watching you, man.’”
“He’ll give me advice from a business standpoint. Just small stuff, but still, jewels from this guy who’s a mogul.”
During this interview, Whalum got a phone message from Combs: “He wants to go to the same tattoo artist I’m going to. He said, ‘I’m trying to reach him. Tell him to hit me.’”
Through Combs, Whalum got to work with Jay-Z. “Puff was producing a lot of Jay’s last album. It was crazy, man. I didn’t get to meet Jay until after I had done the song, ‘Roc Boys,’ which was like the horn-heavy one.”
Jay-Z is “really low-key, really laid back. He’s reserved extremely. Doesn’t say much ’til he gets on stage. And Beyonce is there every show. She’s there when he walks on stage and when he walks off stage.”
While they were working on the CD, Combs invited Whalum to a party at the Marquee Night Club in New York. “It’s like one of the premiere clubs. People can’t even get in....” Combs took Whalum aside to talk to him about the music, and, Whalum said, “I felt like I had arrived at my place as a saxophone player.”
Whalum began doing his show on Broadway, performing his originals, including “The Road Less Traveled,” and singing.
Maxwell, who heard Whalum sing in the studio, invited him to sing background and play horns on his current tour. “He’s probably the coolest guy I’ve ever worked with. He’s really down to earth.”
Whalum currently is working on his own CD. He lives in Brooklyn with a roommate, Jamel Mitchell, nephew of Memphis record producer Willie Mitchell.
He sports sneakers by his favorite designer Louis Vuitton. He and his girlfriend eat out -- their favorite restaurants is Sidecar in Brooklyn --but, “I don’t club much,” he said. “I’m from Memphis and Memphis clubs weren’t really the safest places coming up, so it never really became a staple in my behavior. I like to go to jam sessions and play on random nights. I like to stay home sometimes and watch cable.”
Whalum, his uncle Kirk Whalum and his great-uncle, singer-sax player Hugh ‘Peanuts’ Whalum, 80, recently performed together at a Save Africa’s Children benefit in Los Angeles.
“The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter III,” a DVD featuring the three of them, will be released later this month.
“I’m always working on stuff, (Kenneth’s) always working on stuff,” Kirk Whalum said. “I share a lot of ideas and concepts with him, and he takes them and starts working on them. That quest for musical growth is what I’m proudest of.”
“I really think God wants me in a place where I can be an example,” Whalum said. “I’m a prime example of what can be done if you just put yourself in the right position.”
Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.
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Comments » 1
spicedog9 writes:
Good luck to you in life and your musical endeavors. I would love to hear you and your uncle perform a concert in Memphis. Hopefully one day we will have a jazz club and we can experience some of the talent that always seems to slip away because we are still a small town not a true city.
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