Ryan Kennedy had plenty of music surrounding him growing up.
The son of band and choral directors, his house was filled with music.
Yet it was a move from Charleston to South Charleston that inspired his love of jazz.
"When we moved into our new house, somebody left behind a CD of Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea - it was the only thing that the people left behind," Kennedy recalled. "It was in one of the bedrooms upstairs. At the time, the only thing I knew Bobby McFerrin had done was 'Don't Worry, Be Happy.'
"I listened to that CD religiously for a few months. What struck me was how I didn't understand it - so I kept going back to it," he said. At the time, he was doing what many kids his age did - play in a rock band.
"It didn't seem to me that's what these guys were doing at all - it just flowed so naturally, I thought. And it was just that they had practiced so much and played together so much. It really developed for me an understanding of how much a discipline music was."
Kennedy's mom, Gail, is the choral director at South Charleston High School, and his dad, Jack, is a retired band director for Stonewall Jackson Middle School.
"I got exposed to a lot of music," he said. "There was not really any single style of music that predominated when I grew up. My parents were both in the Symphony Chorus. They both were brass players so I think they expected me to take up trumpet or French horn. Or they thought I might sing."
When he expressed interest in guitar at age 12, they were nonetheless supportive.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.com/Entertainment/201307100112
Ryan Kennedy and Jon Cavendish playing Paul Desmond's "Take 5" (made famous by the Dave Brubeck Quartet...RIP, Mr Brubeck) at Bridge Road Bistro in Charleston, WV on December 26th 2012.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment