JAMES KENNEDY: Bits N Pieces

James Kennedy

Bits N Pieces

© 2001 James Kennedy (767731100828)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

SPECIAL: 10% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!

(About MP3 downloads at CD Baby)

Combine classic rock, jazz, world music, stir, and see what happens. Zesty.

tracks

1 Morocco
2 That African Song
3 Ancient Warriors
4 Time Will Tell
5 Through Your Eyes
6 Nite Opener

notes

Biography for James Kennedy, Heart Consort Music

James Kennedy began his musical studies in his local school?s band program. He credits those early teachers with laying a solid foundation of musical knowledge. After a few years in the band program he met his true love, a 6 string ?Harmony? guitar. He learned chords and songs from the radio and soon was ?cutting his chops? in a succession of rock and blues bands, playing 4 or 5 nights a week even though he was still in school. In his ?spare? time he was also studying folk music and working in a variety of recording studios across the Midwest. His first solo release ?Just Bein? Natural? with Union Street Productions was a folk guitar/vocal album. He toured in support of this album until he went to college. During his undergraduate work in music composition with internationally known composer Alf Houkum, he also studied jazz, world music, arranging, and more. Many of his big-band jazz compositions have been performed by several world-class bands. After his undergraduate training, Jim did graduate work at the University of Iowa with Dr. Richard Hervig and Dr. Tom Davis, among others.
His jazz and blues training were clearly evident on a recording he did for Matthias Winckelmann of Enja Records which was a very popular release in Europe for many years.
In 1986 he and Catherine formed Heart Consort Music. In the intervening years, James has released 9 albums in a variety of styles, ranging from folk/acoustic to rock/fusion , jazz and world music, and more. These nine releases have received international radio airplay, distribution and exposure. James has written music for various independent film and video projects and his music has been licensed by 3M, AEI, Bravo, Disney, The Discovery Channel, PBS, DMX, Muzak, Playnetwork, and many others.
He tours nationally and internationally on a regular basis.

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

  • Another tasty effort by an obviously talented musician. Versatile, a variety of
    author: Music Morsels

    James Kennedy - Bits N Pieces Heart Consort Music - HCM-1005 This latest effort by Iowa?s multifaceted guitarist James Kennedy shows why his versatility and ability to create music that is brimming with life has turned a lot of heads and ears in his direction. The lead track ?Morocco? has a sly backdrop that makes you think of the North Africa nation, but there are elements of contemporary jazz and progressive rock weaved into a tasty stew, with soaring guitar solo work that would do Steve Morse proud. The ethnic feel on this CD continues with the snappy ?That African Song? which laces sweet guitar harmonies with a jazzy, funky rhythm backdrop. ?Through Your Eyes? gets into a sort of smooth groove like an avant-garde take on George Benson. Throughout the album, you feel a certain personality of jangly guitar, demurely plucked at one moment and furiously fingered the next, wonderfully painting the instrumental harmonic qualities of the music without vocals. Although the music has been actually written it has an improvisational quality to it, making it all the more entertaining. This is another tasty effort by an obviously talented musician who is unafraid to draw from a wealth of influences to create music that strays from the norm but in a comforting sort of way.

email

Please log in to email this artist.