Kirk Whalum: Tribute to Donny Hathaway with special guest Lalah Hathaway
9:00–10:30PM, Chase Main Stage
Despite an all-too-brief recording career that ended with his death in 1979, Donny Hathaway continues to be one of the most influential R&B artists. Young artists from India.Arie to Alicia Keys consistently list the singer/songwriter as one of their principal musical influences.
Veteran saxophonist and Mack Avenue recording artist Kirk Whalum heads this special Detroit Jazz Fest tribute to Mr. Hathaway. Whalum first gained wide-spread attention in the mid-‘80s through a partnership with Bob James that produced three well-received albums, including his break-through outing, And You Know That! (1988). He went on to record For You (1998), which spent nearly two years at the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart and 2000’s Hymns in the Garden, which earned him a Grammy nomination. Whalum’s latest release, The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter III, comes ten years after the chart-topping Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter I debuted, and six years after the Grammy-nominated, Stellar Award winning Chapter II.
The appropriate and very special guest for this set is vocalist Lalah Hathaway. The eldest daughter of the legendary Mr. Hathaway, Lalah has been busy making her own mark, as evidenced by the success of her latest release, Self Portrait (2008), which reached the top ten on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination for the single “That Was Then.”
Whalum and Lalah will be backed John Stoddart (keyboards and vocals), Braylon Lacy (bass), Kevin Turner (guitar) and Marcus Finnie (drums).
