Kenny Garrett: Memorable Gig

All the crazy things and that kind of stuff happened with Miles [Davis]. There was one time when were playing in Hawaii at the Waikiki Shell [in Honolulu].

I remember that something happened with the electricity-we were standing around and knew that something was amiss, because obviously we didn’t have any AC. But Miles starting playing “‘Round Midnight,” and the crowd went crazy and was going off, because he was playing by himself. He even took his mute out-and the sound was gorgeous. I was in shock myself, because I’d never heard him play any of the standard tunes. Also I’d never played any straight-ahead with Miles, so I’m waiting and waiting for him to get to the bridge. I said to myself, “When that bridge comes, I don’t care what happens!” I was going to jump in-and he cut it off before that point! Man,

I was hoping Miles was going to play that bridge-’cause I wanted to get in there and get some of that. But it never showed up and I was like, “Aw, man.” The electricity still wasn’t on, but about a few seconds after that, they flipped it back on. So we just went back to playing.

-As told to Chris J. Walker