Terumasa Hino
In 1980, while Kirkland was on tour in Japan with Terumasa Hino, he met Wynton Marsalis, which began their long association. On Marsalis's self-titled debut album, Kirkland shared the piano duties with one of his musical influences, Herbie Hancock, but was the sole pianist on Marsalis's subsequent releases "Think of One", "Hothouse Flowers" and "Black Codes". After his association with Wynton Marsalis, Kirkland joined Branford Marsalis's band. He is also on Marsalis's funk band album "Buckshot Lefonque". When Branford Marsalis assumed the high-visibility role of bandleader for NBC TV's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", Kirkland became the band's pianist.