Artist:Mack Avenue Superband
Song:Speak To My Heart
Album:Live from the Detroit Jazz Festival 2013
Mack Avenue Records is a jazz label owned by Carhartt Jeans heiress Gretchen Carhartt Valade. Carhartt is a major sponsor of the Detroit Jazz Festival. The label was founded in 1999. The Mack Avenue Superband has performed at the festival and some of the concerts were released on CD. The musical director of the band is bassist Rodney Whitaker. He records for Mack Avenue but mostly he's a sideman. He was born Feb. 22, 1968 in Detroit. He took violin lessons as a child and switched to bass as a teen. He got into jazz when he heard Paul Chambers on a John Coltrane record. Whitaker studied at Wayne State University with Detroit Symphony Orchestra bassist Robert Gladstone and jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. After stints with Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove, Whitaker made his recording debut as a leader in 1996. He first recorded for Mack Avenue in 2007. Speak To My Heart was written and originally recorded by gospel artist Donnie McClurkin. Whitaker first recorded it on the 2008 album Work To Do with drummer Carl Allen. Unfortunately that album is too expensive. But he also recorded it on this 2013 Mack Avenue Superband album. He plays bass and is musical director. Allen is on drums. Other members are Sean Jones on trumpet, Aaron Diehl on piano and Evan Perri of Hot Club of Detroit on guitar. They all record for Mack Avenue. The guest on this track is sax player Kirk Whalum. Other guests are vibraphonists Gary Burton and Warren Wolf. There have been a total of four Mack Avenue Superband albums. Recently Mack Avenue has moved away from jazz to smooth jazz and R&B. So Whitaker left for Origin Records and he released two albums in 2019. Here's Rodney Whitaker with the Jazz Music City All Stars performing Speak To My Heart at the Steinway Recital Hall in Nashville Feb. 2, 2013.
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