Kirk Whalum was born July 11, 1958, in Memphis, Tennessee, a city whose gospel, R&B, blues, and jazz traditions run through his entire catalog. He received a scholarship to Texas Southern University in Houston, where he formed a band in 1979 and started playing the local club circuit. When he opened for Bob James in Houston in 1984, James was impressed enough by Whalum's expressive style to invite him to play on his album 12. Bob James's own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile. Whalum signed with Columbia and released his own debut, Floppy Disk, in 1985.

His most widely heard credit came a few years later: the saxophone solo on Whitney Houston's rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," from The Bodyguard soundtrack. The song spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. Whalum went on to tour as Houston's opening act for several years, soloing on that same song night after night.

Whalum has earned 12 Grammy nominations across his career, winning his first in 2011 for Best Gospel Song, "It's What I Do," featuring Lalah Hathaway, written with longtime collaborator Jerry Peters.

Whalum's playing folds his Memphis roots, gospel, R&B, and blues, into a smooth jazz foundation, giving his saxophone tone an emotional directness that made his most famous solo, on "I Will Always Love You," resonate well beyond typical instrumental-jazz audiences.