Artist: TK Blue

T.K. Blue is an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, composer and educator from New York City. His parents were Jamaican and Trinidadian, and he has used their Afro-Caribbean musical styles in his own work.

While attending New York University between 1971 and 1975 with a double major in Music and Psychology, Blue threw himself headlong into music, concentrating on the saxophone. During these undergraduate years, he lived in the East Village, partaking in the full range of the scene, from lessons with elders to deep involvement in the avant-garde. He participated in the  Jazzmobile program, studying jazz theory, harmony, sight-reading, rhythmic training, improvisation and big-band performance, with Jimmy Heath, Chris Woods, Sonny Red, Frank Foster, Jimmy Owens, Ernie Wilkins, Thad Jones and Billy Taylor. 

After performing and traveling extensively with Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) from 1977 to 1980 – variously billed during this period as Talib Qadr, Talib Qadir Kibwe and Talib Abdul Kadr – Blue moved to Paris in December 1981, remaining there until 1989. In 1986 he recorded Egyptian Oasis, his first record as a leader, and that sparked a number of State Department tours to some 20 countries in Africa. 

Back in the USA since 1990, he has worked constantly, in a wide range of styles and situations, and recorded his second CD, Introducing Talib Kibwe, released on Evidence in 1996. His more recent recordings as leader include 2008's Follow the North Star, a suite inspired by the life of Solomon Northup (commissioned by the New York State Council on the Arts), Latin Bird (2011 – "Highly recommended" by AllMusic's reviewer Ken Dryden), and in 2014 A Warm Embrace.