Kenny Peagler’s debut vocal album, We Are Just Human, was not planned as a formal project. What began as an organic musical collaboration with producer Poogie Bell became a soul, jazz, and R&B record built on live performance, trusted musicianship, and emotional honesty. Featuring Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Will Lee, Jimmy Haslip, Bakithi Kumalo, Lakecia Benjamin, Dean Brown, and more, the album reflects Peagler’s first full step forward as a vocalist and songwriter.
How It Began
Some records are designed from the start. Others arrive because the music insists on becoming something more. We Are Just Human was the second kind of record.
There was no blueprint at the beginning, no grand strategy, and no attempt to chase a trend. What existed first was trust — trust between musicians, trust in the material, and trust in the idea that the strongest music often comes from following the feeling. What started as a conversation between Kenny Peagler and Poogie Bell gradually became a full album, shaped by chemistry, timing, and a shared understanding of what the songs needed to be.
For me, that made the record feel very different from anything else I had done. I have spent years as a pianist, organist, and musical director, supporting other artists and helping shape their visions. This album was the first time I stepped fully into the frame as a vocalist and songwriter. That shift was not about leaving anything behind. It was about allowing another part of my musical identity to come forward.
Why This Album Feels Different
At its core, We Are Just Human is about honesty. The songs move through love, loss, conviction, and uncertainty, but they never reach for drama for its own sake. The goal was to make something that felt lived in — music with breath, warmth, and emotional clarity.
That same intention shaped the writing and the arrangements. I wanted the songs to feel open enough for the musicians to speak through them, rather than crowding every moment with too much information. The result is a record that values space, groove, and feel as much as melody and lyric.
That balance matters to me. My musical life has always been shaped by different worlds: classical structure, jazz freedom, gospel feeling, and the directness of soul and R&B. On this album, those influences are not treated as separate categories. They live together naturally, the way they always have in my playing and in my imagination.
Working With Poogie Bell
Poogie Bell played a central role in bringing this record into focus. His production instincts helped shape the album into something clear, warm, and human. He understood that the power of the music would come from restraint as much as from energy.
Poogie Bell’s production anchored the project, while mixing by Goh Hotoda and mixing and mastering by “Bassy” Bob Brockman helped give We Are Just Human its spacious, detailed sound. That sonic clarity made room for the performances to breathe and for the songs to lead the way.
In an era where so much music is built to be instantly processed and quickly forgotten, we wanted this album to feel like a real conversation — something you could enter, sit with, and return to.
The Musicians
One of the most remarkable things about We Are Just Human is the lineup of musicians who helped shape it. Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Will Lee, Jimmy Haslip, Bakithi Kumalo, Lakecia Benjamin, Dean Brown, and others brought their own voices to the project, but no one was there simply to show up and play parts.
What makes the record special is that everybody listened. Everybody responded. Everybody contributed to a shared musical purpose.
That is why the album feels unified rather than crowded. Even with so many world-class players involved, the project never loses its center. It remains a singer-songwriter record at heart, with the instrumentation serving the song rather than competing with it.
The Sound Of The Record
The sound of We Are Just Human is grounded in live performance. That was essential from the beginning. I wanted the record to feel like people in a room, responding to each other in real time. That live energy gives the songs their pulse, but it also gives them their intimacy.
Each track was built to reveal something different: a groove that moves with purpose, a melody that carries emotion without overstatement, a lyric that says what it means plainly. Together, those elements create a record that feels personal without becoming private.
For me, that is where the album lives best — in the space between precision and vulnerability, between musicianship and feeling, between craft and surrender.
What I Learned Making It
Making We Are Just Human reminded me that some of the most meaningful creative work happens when you stop trying to force an outcome. This album came together because the relationships were real, the musicianship was real, and the emotional intention was real.
That matters to me, especially now. In a time when so much can be assembled quickly, I wanted to make something that felt earned. Something made by people, for people.
The title says it simply: we are just human. That is not a limitation. It is the truth at the center of the record.
We Are Just Human is Kenny Peagler’s debut vocal album and a new chapter in his career as a pianist, organist, musical director, and songwriter. The album arrives June 12, 2026 on Trisect Entertainment Group.