Mack Avenue Music Group Releases Albums from Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride for Record Store Day 2022

Mack Avenue Music Group has announced the release of two landmark projects as part of Record Store Day 2022 (April 23) with Kenny Garrett’s Sketches of MD – Live at the Iridium and Christian McBride’s Conversations with Christian. 

Each of these albums is being released on vinyl for the first time ever as a limited edition 2-LP set with foil stamped numbers; Garrett will be released on red color vinyl and McBride will be released on orange color vinyl. 

Garrett’s 2008 live release marked the saxophonist’s debut with Mack Avenue Records and made for a compositionally

relaxed yet performance intense record. On Sketches of MD – Live at the Iridium, he performed live at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City with his band featuring pianist Benito Gonzales, bassist Nat Reeves, drummer Jamire Williams, and special guest tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. 

Like all other great musicians and artists that came before him, Garrett keeps moving forward in his creative direction. "I'm always trying to challenge myself. Don't look for me to sound like my last record. I'm shifting – following what my spirit feels." The sentiment is clear on his most recent release, recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award, Sounds from the Ancestors. 

For a man that’s known to lead many groups, Conversations with Christian focused on duets for this stunning 2011 release. McBride first considered a proposal to do a duet project during the latter ‘90s. “At the time,” he recalls, “I didn’t feel I was ready, or that it was the project I wanted to do. I had other things in mind. But as time progressed, I got to do other projects—putting together the Christian McBride Big Band and experimenting with a lot of different sounds and layers—and my focus returned to the duets idea.” 

The iconic bassist placed himself in the forefront of the flow on a duet apiece with 13 of his closest musical friends and cohorts—singers Angélique Kidjo, Sting and Dee Dee Bridgewater; pianists George Duke, Eddie Palmieri and Chick Corea, as well as Dr. Billy Taylor and Hank Jones; violinist Regina Carter; trumpeter Roy Hargrove; guitarist Russell Malone; tenor saxophonist Ron Blake; and actress Gina Gershon. In the process, McBride unleashed the full measure of his already legendary skills, crafting as complete a portrait of his diverse interests—different vibrations of the blues and African-American church experience, bebop, the American Songbook, the Latin Tinge, the Freedom Principle, even comedy—as he has ever presented. 

The release of these two albums aligns with Mack Avenue Music Group’s longstanding commitment to releasing audiophile quality music in beautifully designed packaging and supporting the vinyl-loving community.