Ryan Kilgore promised his grandfather that he would never stop playing music.
He kept his word.
The jazz saxophonist, who started playing the horn at 10, recently released his second solo project, the autobiographical “Just Walk.” And he is fresh off the road from the “Songs in the Key of Life” tour with legendary singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder .
Playing the sax “is pretty much like heaven on earth,” said Kilgore, 34, who warmed his chops playing in the band at Southwest DeKalb High School. “Nothing else matters when I have my horn in my hands. “
His grandfather, the late Ester Betterson, who bought Kilgore his first horn, noticed. So have others, including Wonder.
“He’s very hands on,” said Kilgore of his eight-year musical relationship with Wonder. “Musically, we call it the School of Wonder. You’re always in a place of not knowing where you’re going musically. Musically, he doesn’t have any rules. You can be playing some blues. You can be playing some jazz. You can be playing some R&B. You can be playing some funk. It’s just however he is feeling. Sometimes, forgive the play on words, sometimes we say we wonder where we’re going today.”
It’s not an easy gig. Wonder’s playlist of hits is so extensive, musicians may find themselves pulling from ”Fingertips,” “A Time to Love,” “Hotter Than July” and “Innervisions.”
Kilgore, who was a drum major at Clark Atlanta University, feels blessed and honored to play behind Wonder, someone he’s long admired. “It’s also a spiritual experience. To be with somebody who is blind, not being able to see what you see but they have this ‘eye’ that they look through.”
Kilgore is spending time these days promoting “Just Walk,” a 14-track CD. The project includes some autobiographical elements, including the title track “Just Walk” and “Can You Imagine.”
The overarching theme of the CD is about having the faith to live your dreams. In his case, it meant leaving a security guard job and steady paycheck in 2006 to pursue music full time.
“Being a church boy, I was taught to have faith,” said Kilgore, who has an uncle and several cousins who play the sax as well. “I was taught to speak things into existence.”
Some of the tracks are about his life, others are about the emotions he was feeling at the time. His favorite in the “Can You Imagine” reprise, is one in which he raps about this life. “Most people wouldn’t expect to hear me rapping on my album.”
“We like to look at him as next generation — as far as him establishing a solo career,” said Eric Jackson, a co-producer on the CD. “We have to continue to refresh the pool of sax players and artists to keep jazz fresh and moving and appealing to a younger audience.”
“Just Walk” includes a mix of computer-generated sounds and live instrumentation, he said. It will appeal to listeners of all ages and musical tastes, he said. “We just wanted to make it as versatile as possible.”
Kilgore has also started a nonprofit, the Ryan Kilgore Foundation, to raise awareness about the importance of music and arts in schools. The foundation holds drives to collect donated instruments for young people and works to expose students to music.
As for the advice he wishes he had received when he was younger: “Learn the business and not just the craft,” he said.
“They call it the music business for a reason. You can end up spending so much time practicing and you should spend the same amount of time learning about intellectual property and licensing.”
Follow Kilgore on Twitter: @Ryankilgore1.
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