Gerald Albright

Recognized as a master and pioneer of a new smooth jazz style, Gerald Albright's saxophone playing made him one of America's most admired musicians with his sensual, mellow grooves regularly heard on the radio. Born on August 30, 1957, he grew up in Los Angeles, California listening to the gospel music of James Cleveland and the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Gerald Albright's first instrument was the piano but during one lesson, his piano teacher gave him an alto sax to try, and he never looked back. Inspired by Maceo Parker, he listened intently to his playing with James Brown, particularly on the track “Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.” Yusef Lateef and Cannonball Adderley were also major influences and Gerald Albright was already an adept and ambitious sax player by the time he went to the University of Redlands studying business administration. He later joined one of his former classmates - pianist and singer Patrice Rushen - on tour playing bass and on the hit song “Forget Me Nots.” He later replaced Kenny G playing sax with the Jeff Lorber Fusion Band. Becoming a busy session musician with the likes of Nina Simone, Barry White, and The Temptations, Gerald Albright was signed by Atlantic Records, and released the album Just Between Us in 1987, which produced the hit single “So Amazing.” His recordings subsequently became a staple diet of contemporary jazz radio, his smooth style resulting in two Grammy Award nominations in 1989 and 1990. He performed at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, made many TV appearances on shows like A Different World and Melrose Place and played the music on the PlayStation video game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. His back catalog of albums includes Bermuda Nights (1988), Smooth (1994), Groovology (2002), New Beginnings (2006), 24/7 with Norman Brown (2012), and Not So Silent Night (2019). Thirty years into his career, he achieved some of his most significant success on the Smooth Jazz Airplay chart with number 1 singles such as “Better Days Ahead” (2020), “Hope” (2021), “Crazy” (2021), and “G Wiggle” (2022). In 2020, Gerald Albright released the G-Stream EP, which he followed with G-Stream 2: Turn it Up (2022). The third title in the EP series, G-Stream 3 - Full Throttle, was scheduled to be released in May 2024.