shannon kennedy home |
fan club |
bio |
performances |
saxes and gear | cds |
store |
saxophone sound clips |
photos |
contact
| Saxophonist Shannon Kennedy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Up and Coming Smooth Jazz Sensation Shannon Kennedy Music, Bio, Pictures, Concert Schedule, Sax info, Jazz studies and other facts about Shannon Kennedy are online here. Shannon Kennedy is a Rheuben Allen Saxophone Performing Artist and Rico Junior Artist, playing Jazz, Pop, Classical and Smooth Jazz styles on Flute, Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bari Saxophones. May 31, 2008 Shannon recently found a review written on her album, "Steppin Up". "Young saxophonist Shannon Kennedy emerged from Orange County (OCHSA, CSULB). A champion of music and local emergent, she created a Web site to push ‘teen jazz (here), the ranks of which she herself has left behind. Still, the tireless young musician is herself an excellent player in the smooth jazz vernacular, but clearly keeping her eyes on greater champions of the form. Her employ of all saxophones as well as flute on a dozen tracks mostly written by herself, offers a gentle platter of contemporary fare that should appeal to smooth jazz fans, but be of special interest for those who follow the local jazz scene. Not only is award-winning keyboardist Dan Reckard, leader of the Black Note Trio in Kennedy’s band, but she has OCHSA Jazz Director Bijon Watson on a couple tracks and guest appearances by hot selling saxophonist Kirk Whalen and guitarist Peter White. Kennedy is ambitious and talented. Her music is neat, interesting and very listenable. The opening cut, ‘Double Shot,’ with a feel of the Dan’s ‘Babylon Sisters,’ lets her trade licks with Whalen, while other songs, including one co-written with Reckard, cover the contemporary territory. As essential as original tunes are to a young artist, it’s ironically the standards that put her in focus. On Ellington’s ‘In a Sentimental Mood,’ one can hear how Kennedy’s rich, melodic tenor finds the soul of this oft-covered tune. It’s a stand-out and this fistful of calling cards from a player who can be found on the local circuit throughout the year. Since ‘Steppin’ Out’ she has ‘Never My Love.’" - theatertimes.org Other recently discovered interviews include: Smooth-Jazz.de
April 04, 2008 Shannon's younger brother Ian Kennedy just performed on stage in front of an audience for the first time this last Tuesday at the House of Blues in Anaheim, check out the video of Ian Kennedy playing guitar on youtube! You can also check out this video of Shannon's friend Anthony Clements performing his song Nebraska Sky. March 26, 2008 Shannon has recently been interviewed for the Californian newspaper in Temecula, CA. The article comes out March 27, 2008 - be sure to pick up a copy, or you chan check it out online! She was also interviewed tonight on Power 88 in Las Vegas. Be sure to call in and request Shannon's music the number is 702 - 647 - 3688. Other cool things that have been going on lately include Shannon performing at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center in February with Craig Chaquico, as well as working with a Sade Tribute Band which will be performing at the House of Blues in Anaheim, the last week of April. Check out the web site for the Sade Tribute band, designed by Shannon. You can also check out these great photos taken of Shannon and the Taboo Band by John Kennedy. Rico and D'Addario also posted an interview with Shannon at the 2007 NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. January 01, 2008 Happy New Year's everyone! Shannon played at the La Jolla Hyatt last night celebrating New Year's Eve with Peter White, Richard Elliot, Jackiem Joyner, Euge Groove, and Oli Silk. Hopefully, photos from the event will be up soon! December 18, 2007 Shannon's new Christmas song "Almost That Time of Year" has been getting local airplay! "Almost That Time of Year" is Shannon's first original composition to receive airplay. It is also her first composition featuring Shannon as a vocalist as well as her first Christmas song! Be sure to listen to the song by selecting it in the mp3 player at the top of the page! December 03, 2007 Rico has posted videos of Shannon on their The Stage media web site. Check out any of the three videos available of Shannon! - Shannon talking about Finger Technique for playing the saxophone - Shannon talking about Doubling - Shannon's Bio November 18, 2007 So I am sitting on a plane on my way back from Las Vegas with Peter White - it was the last Peter White Band show before he starts up the Christmas tour with Mindi Abair and Rick Braun. The show was an absolute blast! We played at the Santa Fe Station Casino in the Chrome Showroom. Hopefully I will have photographs up soon! - Shannon
September 12, 2007Shannon played with Peter White at the Newport Hyatt and at Thorton Winery. Check out these great photos by Sherry Fischer! Check out the YouTube video of Shannon playing with Peter White. August 24, 2007Shannon has had some pretty exciting shows this month. On August 10th, she played with Craig Chaquico and Jefferson Starship at the Newport Hyatt. On August 17th, she performed with 10,000 Maniacs in Irvine after playing with them on their entire West Coast tour. Shannon also performed with and opened for Peter White at A Taste of Laguna Niguel at the Mercedes Benz dealership in Laguna. Check out some photographs of Shannon playing with Peter White and Michael Paulo from the show by Mark Montgomery and others! Shannon will also be performing with Peter White on September 7th at the Newport Hyatt and September 8th at Thornton Winery in Temecula, CA. Don't forget to come out to one of Shannon's TWO CD Release Parties (and her 19th birthday party). September 22nd, there will be a CD Release party at Antonucci's in Mission Viejo, CA from 7 to 10 PM. September 23rd, there will be a release party at Bailey's in Old Town Temecula from 11AM-3PM. July 16, 2007The Shannon Kennedy Band just returned from the Temecula Valley International Jazz Festival where they performed on Friday and Saturday and the KATY/BMW show in Temecula on Sunday. Some exciting things happened at the event! Shannon's latest CD, Steppin Up will be played on Continental Airlines in Nov/Dec and the band was interviewed for the Channel 27 local news in Temecula. If you live in the area, be sure to tune in! Shannon also will now have an Official Fan Club which will be run by Glenn and Lynn Wurdemann, so check back for more information about her fan club soon! June 19, 2007Shannon will be played on KATY 101.3 all week this week, they will feature three songs off her latest album "Steppin Up", be sure to tune in. If you don't get the station in your area, you can listen in online at the KATY 101.3 web site. Shannon will be interviewed on the radio with Cyrene Jagger at 11AM on Thursday the 22nd. Be sure to tune in and check out the interview! Shannon will be performing for the radio station at Bailey's this Sunday morning, June 24th from 11AM to 3PM so be sure to check it out (its in old town Temecula, CA). Shannon will also be performing with the B-52's (Rock Lobster and Love Shack) and the 10,000 Maniacs (Trouble Me, Hey Jack Kerouac) this Saturday, June 23rd at the Harrah's Rincon Casino in San Diego. The host is comedian Jon Lovitz. It's going to be a blast - hope to see you there! And of course you can't forget the new CD that is coming out the end of the summer just in time for Shannon's birthday in September! The CD is called "Never My Love", it features Drew Simpson on guitar, Dan Reckard on keys, Greg Vail on sax and vocals, Bobby Cruz on vocals, Jamie Browning on guitar and vocals, Shannon on saxes, flutes, clarinets, english horn, keyboards, vocals and bass, as well as a few other guests. Shannon is also working on four projects with pianist Rodrigo Lopez. The projects "My Friend in Heaven" (Shannon played flute on this album) and "Bossas for the World", which Shannon co-produced and is co-releasing with Rodrigo will also be out at the end of the summer. Shannon and Rodrigo have already begun working on two new projects including a smooth jazz cd and a worship/gospel cd, both featuring original music.
April 19, 2007 Shannon was just given a copy of an article she was featured in this last February. The Orange County Post called Shannon "an amazing teenage saxophonist". Shannon is also currently working on a new project featuring 70s style music with a smooth jazz spin entitled Never My Love. In addition, her record with Rodrigo Lopez, Bossas for the World is due to be out the summer of 2007 which will be followed by a tour in Spain in 2008. Lastly, my friend, and the drummer in my band, Bubba Bryant had a stroke. So keep him in your prayers. If you have any "well wishes" to send to him, you can email them to me and I will forward them to him so he knows we wish him the best. Thank you. March 15, 2007 An ad Shannon was for Rico Reeds appeared in both the March and April issues of In Tune magazine! There are also pictures of Shannon on the Yamaha dealer page (she modeled for a Yamaha photo shoot). March 14, 2007 Well, not quite sure on the specific date, but Shannon Kennedy had her first radio debut! Shannon's composition "What If I'm In Love With You" was played on the podcast "The Jazz Show". It was in show #20, so you can still download the debut. Be sure to check it out! As far as other news, Shannon teamed up with Rodrigo Lopez to finally finish their Bossa Nova album - you can expect it soon! Once the album is done, they have a few more projects in mind for the future including another bossa nova cd as well as a gospel cd. Lastly, Shannon and her guitar player Drew Simpson are recording a guitar/sax duo CD, they head into the studio this month to begin recording the album. February 14, 2007 Well, any press is good press, even when you don't know about it. The press release the Rico/D'Addario was just found by Shannon (she didn't even know it existed). Of course, they did spell her name wrong in the heading. But if you ignore the spelling error, it is a really great article on Shannon. Check out the Rico Press Release on Shannon. February 7, 2007 Alright, this entry I'm going to write in the first person as opposed to the third as usual.
January 14, 2007 Shannon will be at NAMM all week this week! You can catch her at the Rheuben Allen booth, the International Woodwinds booth, the D'Addario booth, or the Beechler booth! January 13, 2007 Shannon Kennedy appeared in the December 28th issue of the OC Squeeze. The article was a review of restaurants in Orange County. One of the clubs that Shannon plays at was included in the review, so they used a photo of Shannon playing in the club. January 01, 2007 Happy New Year! There has been quite a bit going on during the holidays. Shannon recently finished doing a live Christmas CD and DVD down at Mission Viejo Christian Church. It probably won't be available until the Christmas of 2007 though. Other happenings include the preparation for the release of Shannon's sophomore CD "Steppin Up", it will be held at Antonucci's in Mission Viejo on January 20th. There are going to be two shows featuring music and musicians from the album. Lastly, Shannon has bought a new Silver Yamaha Z alto saxophone. Look for pictures of the alto soon! November 16, 2006 Yesterday, Shannon was featured in the Orange County Post in an article by Paul Hodgins. The article was called "Post Haste - The Sounds of Child Prodigies". "Kennedy [plays] with confidence that belies her youth." - Paul Hodgins. October 11, 2006 Shannon and her keyboard player Dan Reckard were interviewed by the Orange County Squeeze - be sure to check out the article about young and up coming musicians. The actual newspaper will be out October 12. August 17, 2006 It's about that time! This coming Monday, the Shannon Kennedy band will be in the studio
July 30, 2006 It has been a little while since shannon-kennedy.com has been updated. Working hard as usual - Shannon had surgery to get her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday, so unfortunately, she has to take a short break from saxophone this week. However, this up coming weekend, you can look forward to seeing her at Antonucci's in Mission Viejo, California and Spasso's Grill & Martini Bar in Laguna Hills, California. And, the long anticipated sophmore album by saxophonist Shannon Kennedy is being recorded August 21 and 22. So you can look forward to it this fall. July 13, 2006 Shannon was on television last night! Shannon performed in a horn section behind Shawn Ryan for the television show "America's Got Talent". There were a few shots that she was visible in, playing in the swing style on soprano. The clarinet sounding solo heard on the end was Shannon. Photos of Shannon on America's Got Talent. June 5, 2006 Jazz Monthly features Shannon Kennedy, read Smitty Smith's interview with Shannon. May 31, 2006 Shannon is interviewed by Jesse Wesley of KMYT 94.5. The interview will be aired on Friday morning, June 2, sometime between 5:30 and 10AM. If you don't live in Temecula, you can listen to Shannon's interview online! May 28, 2006 Shannon performs at the 2006 KSBR Bash with Nils, Jeff Kashiwa, and Michael Paulo!
May 19, 2006 Shannon Kennedy is featured in a newspaper article by Pam Aries. Musician wows coffee house Last Friday night, I had the pleasure of discovering both the Old Town Coffee House and the genuine talent of Miss Shannon Kennedy. Shannon played wonderful jazz music on several instruments along with her talented keyboard and drum backup. Her maturity and her musical talent far exceed her 19 years of age. The coffee house offered a quaint atmosphere complete with food, drinks, desserts as well as coffee. Several intimate booths line the walls and with Shannon's music in the background made this the perfect spot to unwind after a long week. Mark your calendars because Shannon will be back at the coffee house on June 9 and with this much talent she will soon be on her way to bigger and better venues. May 10, 2006 Shannon Kennedy is made one of Rico's Junior Artists! May 1, 2006 Shannon Kennedy has an article on woodwind doubling published in the April issue of Flute Talk. January 2006 Shannon Kennedy is made the baritone saxophone artist for Rheuben Allen Saxophones. September 23, 2005 Shannon Kennedy's debut CD "Angel Eyes", release party is held at the Boardwalk Cafe in Santa Ana, CA. September 19, 2005Shannon Kennedy is featured on smoothjazznow.com "It's a pretty safe bet to say any down to the bone smooth jazz fan would just love to say of an artist "I remember when he was just playing the clubs". There are more up and coming smooth jazz artists than you can count. But thanks to the efforts of a young musician from Southern California, there is a website where these young virtuosos can "strut their stuff", and where fans of the genre can watch for rising stars. Eighteen year old Shannon Kennedy, of Southern California has created www.teenjazz.com." May 2005 Shannon Kennedy is SaxTalk.com's Junior Artist of the Month "Shannon Kennedy is an incredible teenage saxophonist who is fast becoming a saxophone master... She impressed me because I could tell she is very focused on music. This is one of the primary signs of greatness... Shannon Kennedy is a sweetheart of a person and I know that she will be one of the greats one day..." March 2005 Shannon Kennedy is featured on SaxTalk with a SaxTalk Bio "Shannon Kennedy is anything but dry. She was one the most genuine, cordial, sweet, and caring individuals that I have ever had the pleasure of interviewing. She has a quick wit, a keen philosophical mind, and I have NO doubt that she will not only be a great saxophonist...Shannon Kennedy has the rare combination of killer chops and a killer sound...Shannon Kennedy is an amazing talent ..." news | sitemap | press kit
|
|
