The Jazz Real Book

Saxophonist Kirk Whalum continues to affirm his place as one of contemporary jazz’s most expressive voices. A Grammy Award winner whose career spans more than four decades, Whalum has seamlessly blended jazz, gospel, R&B, and soul while collaborating with artists ranging from Whitney Houston to Luther Vandross. He is perhaps best known to mainstream audiences for his iconic, improvised saxophone solo on “I Will Always Love You,” featured in The Bodyguard, a performance that became one of the most recognizable sax moments in pop history.
On March 14, he brings that signature sound to the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, performing longtime favorites alongside music from his new release, Epic Cool (Artistry Music, 2024). Epic Cool reflects Whalum’s embrace of what he calls the “second half of life”—a perspective shaped by experience, faith, and artistic maturity. The album also highlights his deep musical roots, featuring family members including his son Kyle and nephew Kameron.. As he tours behind Epic Cool, Whalum brings not only technical mastery but a message of resilience, gratitude, and enduring cool born of lived experience.

“Falling In Love With Love” and Helen Merrill (113) 
“Falling in Love with Love,” by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart from the Broadway musical The Boys from Syracuse, is a waltz in B♭ major built on a clear 64–bar A–A’ form. Its melody is strikingly simple—largely stepwise and sustained—yet its arching ascents and descents give it expressive shape. The harmony relies on logical ii–V progressions and brief modulations, making it especially inviting for jazz improvisers. Beneath its graceful surface, Hart’s lyric delivers a gently ironic warning about romantic idealism. A defining jazz interpretation appears on Helen Merrill’s debut album with Clifford Brown and arrangements by Quincy Jones, Merrill’s cool, intimate phrasing and emotional restraint turn the song into a refined, modern jazz statement of understated poignancy. (113) 
Helen Merrill
Kenny Dorham 
The Jazz Real Book Playlist Vol. 2

Steve Tibbetts (born 1954, Madison, Wisconsin) is an American guitarist and composer whose music blends jazz fusion, ambient soundscapes, experimental techniques, and global influences. Treating the recording studio as a compositional tool, he layers loops, field recordings, and highly textured guitar tones to create immersive sonic environments.
A longtime collaborator with percussionist Marc Anderson, Tibbetts incorporates instruments such as kendang and kalimba alongside acoustic and electric guitar. His 1982 ECM debut Northern Song, produced by Manfred Eicher, introduced him to a wider international audience.
Among his later works, Close (ECM, 2011) stands out for its intimate, spacious character. The album refines his signature blend of atmospheric guitar textures and subtle percussion, emphasizing restraint, detail, and emotional nuance. Across decades, Tibbetts has maintained a singular voice marked by cross-cultural curiosity and sonic exploration

“ Falling Grace” and John Scofield (112) 
“Falling Grace,” composed by Steve Swallow and first recorded by Gary Burton in 1966, is a structurally modern jazz standard built on lyrical melody and elegant, bass-directed harmony. Its unusual 14-bar A and 10-bar B form is unified by sustained opening tones, recurring triplet figures, and carefully balanced chord tones and extensions. The harmony is defined by half-step bass motion, slash chords placing 3rds and 7ths in the bass, and fluid cycle-of-fourths movement, giving the tune a floating yet logical quality. John Scofield brings a unique authority to the piece. Born in 1951 and educated at Berklee, Scofield emerged in the 1970s and gained international prominence during his tenure with Miles Davis (1982–85), where his blues-inflected tone and rhythmic bite helped shape Miles’s electric comeback era. Over five decades, Scofield has bridged post-bop, funk, fusion, and roots music, influencing generations of guitarists with his gritty sound, elastic phrasing, and harmonic daring. On Swallow Tales (2020), his interpretation honors the tune’s lyricism while highlighting his gift for motivic development and deep harmonic awareness, reaffirming his lasting impact on modern jazz guitar.
Gary Burton 
John Scofield 
The Jazz RealBook  Playlist Vol.2

Thelonious Monk -Underground
Released May 1968 
Released in May 1968 on Columbia Records and produced by Teo Macero, Underground captures Monk with his longtime quartet: Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums), plus a vocal cameo from Jon Hendricks on “In Walked Bud.” The record balances new compositions like “Green Chimneys” and “Boo Boo’s Birthday” with revisited Monk staples, all delivered with the group’s seasoned interplay and elastic swing.
Though jazz was competing with rock’s cultural dominance, Monk remained uncompromising—angular melodies, dissonant harmonies, abrupt silences, and percussive attack intact. The Grammy-winning cover, depicting Monk as a member of the French Resistance, symbolized both defiance and individuality. Artistically rather than commercially driven, Underground closes a defining chapter in Monk’s Columbia era and reaffirms his singular place in modern jazz. (S5-Ep7)