JK

There's a new player on the R&B landscape. Seamlessly blending sweet soul stylings with the mellow elegance of jazz, melding the rhythmic intensity of old-school funk with the sonic syncopations of contemporary streets sounds, "What's the Word, the debut recording by New York-based guitarist/songwriter/producer JK, is that rare find in the crowded world of modern R&B: an album of true vision.

Raised in Paris, the son of noted French mime Claude Kipnis, JK grew up in a home filled with music, most notably the grooves of American soul. "While other kids were blasting Led Zeppelin," JK remembers with a grin, "our living room was pumping Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. That's the music I grew up on. That's the feeling I'm aspiring to with my own music." At age 11, shortly after moving to New York, JK received a guitar from his father - and his fate was sealed.

Self-taught, he later enrolled in the renowned jazz program at the University of Miami. The burgeoning artist inside him, however, was not meant to be stuck in a classroom. "I was a bad boy before I got to college, and I was a bad boy while I was in college," he recalls. "I took what I needed from that experience and combined it with my love for soul music. It was a valuable experience because the combination of both soul and jazz gave me my sound as a player." JK came back to New York to begin a career as a respected session player with skills that range from arrangement and production to performing and songwriting. After years of working with other artists to express their own musical visions it was time for JK to create his own project. The result? "What's the Word"

More than a collection of songs, "What's the Word" allows JK to indulge every respect of his wide-ranging musical palette, to paint a vivid picture of the artist as a young man. Bringing together a core band of musicans at the top of their game, JK takes the listener on a musical ride defined by virtuoso playing and vocalizing, a contemporary throwback to the band style that drove so much classic R&B. Perhaps the shining moment of the album is "So Sorry", a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad dedicated to the memory of his father and the legacy of creativity he passed on to JK. And it all started with that guitar - as the lyrics go, his father said, "Play on player, play on."
His earlier album Experience is scintillating new jazz-funk-soul by whizguitarist and band.

More info:

http://www.ververecords.co.uk/col/j.htm