Kenny Kirkland recorded only one album as a leader, entitled "Kenny Kirkland", in 1991. Kenny Kirkland met Wynton Marsalis in 1980, when he went on tour with trumpeter Terumasa Hino, and since then began a long collaboration that started with the first Wynton Marsalis' album, titled "Wynton Marsalis". Kirkland joined the band of Wynton Marsalis in 1981, and left it in 1985, when he joined the band of Sting (with Branford Marsalis). Since 1986, after leaving Sting, Kirkland became a session musician and in the early nineties, he joined the Tonight Show band (led by Branford Marsalis). Kirkland performed and recorded with several artists such as Kevin Eubanks, Michael Brecker, Don Alias, John Scofield, Tom Scott, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Clarke, Stanley Jordan, Miroslav Vitous, Ernie Watts, Elvin Jones, Mark Whitfield, Stephen Stills and David Crosby, Angela Bofill, Youssou N'Dour, Ben E. King and many others. Kirkland was found dead November 13, 1998 in his apartment in Queens, New York, he had just 43 years.