Jim Kanas
Take the El- theEP
© 2004 JKP
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This EP is four original songs with guitar, flugel horn, piano, percussion, drums, harp guitar, and bass and is a blend of jazz styles ranging from straight ahead, smooth, new age and contemporary. The first tune, "Common Place" is a flugel horn feature w
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Jim Kanas' professional collaborations have included concerts, recordings and/or performances with other Midwest musicians such as harmonica/pianist, Howard Levy; violinists, Johnny Frigo, Randy Sabien and Peter Ostroushko; mandolinist, Don Stiernberg; bassist, Larry Gray; bluesmen, Eddy Snow and "Pistol Pete"; guitarist, Muriel Anderson; percussionist, Rubén P. Alvarez and others. He has been featured in concert at colleges, theaters, festivals and recorded and broadcast media throughout Illinois. Jim Kanas is a guitarist from Northern Illinois. Early on he found himself in the company of many jazz performers and educators including Pat Metheny, George Benson, Gary Burton and Stan Kenton to name a few. Also, at that time Jim was performing with then neighboring high school student/saxophonist Bill Evans sat-in with veteran blues man Eddy Clearwater. Jim won consecutive awards as a jazz guitarist in the Chicago land area and then later pursued his love and "hobby" of playing bluegrass, folk and traditional music. He then once again found himself surrounded by and jamming with influential musicians such as Steve Goodman,
Corky Siegel, the Nashville Cats, Allison Krause, Harvey Ried, Jethro Burns and others. Jim broadened out his performance base to include pedal steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, harmonica, mandolin, dobro and vocals and toured regionally as a sideman with many country oriented groups. Jim earned a unique interdisciplinarymusic performance degree from Northern Illinois University in
contemporary guitar skills, commercial music and American folk instruments. Jim now spends time as an artist-in-residence throughout Illinois with the Illinois Arts Council and other cultural arts organizations and performing and producing. He is an Illinois Arts Council Artstour artist and performs and records regularly as a soloist (singer/multi-instrumentalist), with the Jim Kanas Trio folk/bluegrass/western swing) and with the Jim Kanas Jazz Quartet.
In Jim Kanas' playing Doc Watson peacefully coexists with Jim Pass. Creating a distinct personal style from
such disparate influences isn't easy
to do. Jim pulls it off with aplomb."
- Pat Donahue, 1996
"Few musicians achieve success in both the jazz and folk realms."
Keisha Smith, Presenter
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Smooth, cohesive music played with plenty of gusto
author: Joe RossPlaying Time – 16:49 -- From a small town in rural northern Illinois, Chicago-based jazz guitarist Jim Kanas called upon seven of his musical friends to record these four original compositions. Besides guitar, Kanas plays some Maurer harp guitar and synth guitar/organ. The others who add flugel horn, piano, percussion, drums, and bass include Scott Mertens, Doug Bratt, Doug Lofstrom, Dan Shapera, Henry Boehm, Terry Connel, and Rubén P. Alvarez. The smooth music is cohesive and played with plenty of gusto. Each piece has some enchanting moments, such as Connel’s fluid playing in “Common Place,” Merten’s impressive piano in “Take the El,” Kanas’ lyrical harp guitar in “Uncle Pete’s Sonic Tour,” and toe-tapping melody and entire band’s improvisational skills in “Milledgeville Stomp.” Jim Kanas has a very strong resume, and I’m surprised that a major jazz label hasn’t taken more notice of this hard-working musician. His bio indicates some very impressive collaborations and awards. His educational background even includes a unique interdisciplinary music performance degree from Northern Illinois University in contemporary guitar, commercial music and American folk instruments. “Take the El” foreshadows a longer project by the same title coming soon, and it also complements the acoustic-oriented “Jimmy & the Swingers” album that Kanas released in 2003. This 4-song EP stimulates our taste buds for the longer project, and it’s definitely worth picking up to experience the singularly impressive guitar talents of Kanas. (Joe Ross, Roseburg, OR.)
Great Music from a Great Player
author: El GrecoIt's not very often that the perfect combination of writing, playing and presentation comes along. I think this cd is a perfect example of such an occurance. We've come to a point where anybody with a little bit of money can produce a cd, whether it's worthy of public consumption or not. Fortunately, this cd is a case where the technology doesn't overshadow the talent. Great album.....give it a listen!!!