Kim Waters at Spaghettini

With a career that has spanned close to four decades, the indefatigable Kim Waters is still inspired. “I have been recording for 35 years and I love it. It’s my passion and it is all that I’ve ever done. There are so many great young guns coming along that I have to stay at the top of my game! I am blessed that I was trained on the straight ahead side of things which gave me a great foundation.” Waters’ keen harmonic sense, tasteful and soulful phrasing and fluid melodic sensibilities have made him one the premiere architects of Contemporary Jazz. The Maryland born Renaissance man was inspired early on in his career by such Jazz luminaries as Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., and Cannonball Adderley. Waters picked up his first instrument, the violin, at the age of eight. “That didn’t go over well with the fellas,” says Waters, who later found his calling on the alto and soprano saxophones at 13. Shortly afterwards he began playing in a band with his brothers, James (who he still performs with) and Eric, and his old friend, pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Over the years, Kim Waters has been called on to perform with or open shows for the best including Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Phyllis Hyman, Teddy Riley and Guy, and Gerald Albright to name a few....

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With a career that has spanned close to four decades, the indefatigable Kim Waters is still inspired. “I have been recording for 35 years and I love it. It’s my passion and it is all that I’ve ever done. There are so many great young guns coming along that I have to stay at the top of my game! I am blessed that I was trained on the straight ahead side of things which gave me a great foundation.” Waters’ keen harmonic sense, tasteful and soulful phrasing and fluid melodic sensibilities have made him one the premiere architects of Contemporary Jazz. The Maryland born Renaissance man was inspired early on in his career by such Jazz luminaries as Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., and Cannonball Adderley. Waters picked up his first instrument, the violin, at the age of eight. “That didn’t go over well with the fellas,” says Waters, who later found his calling on the alto and soprano saxophones at 13. Shortly afterwards he began playing in a band with his brothers, James (who he still performs with) and Eric, and his old friend, pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Over the years, Kim Waters has been called on to perform with or open shows for the best including Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Phyllis Hyman, Teddy Riley and Guy, and Gerald Albright to name a few.

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