JAZZ FUSION IN THE WORK OF KENNY GARRETT

Abstract

The article explores the features of jazz fusion in Kenny Garrett’s oeuvre. The aim is to provide a systematic account of the specificity of jazz fusion in Garrett’s work and to trace the evolution of rhythm-and-texture solutions from his experience in Miles Davis’s ensemble to his own albums. Methodology: a combination of the historical-analytical approach (biographical milestones and contexts), structural-stylistic analysis (pulse, texture, thematism, the role of the bass–drums pair and the keyboard–percussion layer), reception analysis of concert and studio realizations (the pairing of «long waves» of live sound with compact studio track forms), as well as a comparative interpretation of key albums and ensemble practices against descriptions of fusion aesthetics in the scholarly literature. Scientific novelty lies in clarifying the mechanics of Garrett’s fusion thinking as a stable model of form-building, which includes: an extended vamp/ostinato with a steady groove; a riff-and-variant organization of material according to the principle «riff – variant – gradation»; the priority of micro-rhythmic shifts and changes in textural density over frequent harmonic turns; multilayered interaction among bass, drums, and synthesizers; and modal improvisational «arches» of the alto saxophone as the leading form-forming factor. It is shown how Afro-Caribbean clave models and the urban pulses of the 2000s are integrated into his poetics without sacrificing the complexity of phrasing. Conclusions: in Kenny Garrett’s music, fusion functions as a way of structuring musical time and texture. The experience of Miles Davis’s ensemble consolidated parameters of extended time spans, a steady backbeat, and layered texture; in Garrett’s solo work these principles take on various sonic configurations – from the acoustic model of Songbook to the electrified and dance-oriented Happy People and Do Your Dance!, and further to integrative work with the «memory of pulses» in Sounds from the Ancestors. The proposed analytical framework explains the recognizability of the author’s style.