When Kirk Whalum released The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter 1 on October 13, 1998, he wasn’t simply launching a new album. He was coming full circle. Raised in Memphis in a family of ministers and musicians, Whalum grew up surrounded by the sound of hymns and harmony. His father and grandfather were pastors, and the church was the center of his earliest musical experiences. That spiritual and cultural foundation shaped his tone, phrasing, and the emotional honesty that have always set him apart.

Recorded live at the Roy Acuff Theater in Nashville, Chapter 1 blends the freedom of jazz improvisation with the spirit of Sunday morning. Whalum’s saxophone leads like a seasoned preacher moved by both conviction and creativity. The setting gave him room to express the connection he’d always felt between faith and artistry — not through lyrics, but through sound, phrasing, and feel.

“I wanted to create something that captured both the groove and the gratitude I grew up with,” Whalum said in interviews surrounding the album’s release.

A highlight of the session is his collaboration with George Duke, whose keyboards brought warmth and a deep sense of dialogue to the project. Duke’s solo on “Blessed Assurance” is a moment of shared inspiration — two master musicians conversing in melody and space. Their interplay is what makes Chapter 1 special: a union of groove, reverence, and improvisation that transcends category.

Whalum has described The Gospel According to Jazz as the album he was “called” to make — the moment he stopped keeping his faith and his music in separate lanes. That decision sparked a remarkable four-part series that unfolded over the next two decades, each chapter expanding on the first’s vision of jazz as a form of gratitude, uplift, and communion. Chapter 1 remains the purest statement — a recording that honors both where Whalum came from and the message he’s carried ever since.