Kenny Hays
Forty-Seven
© 2002 Kenny Hays
CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.
Raw, emotional intrumental guitar synth, fusion, rock, jazz, blues, Ghanaian, Afro-Cuban grooves.
tracks
- 1 The Italian Rebel
- 2 Atrophied
- 3 Forty-Seven
- 4 Sizemology
- 5 Myranda
- 6 Squidage
- 7 FM
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This review is for the title song "Forty-Seven" from "Recording Magazine" February 2002, pg 88:
"Music: 'Forty-Seven' is an instrumental groove tune, all done by Kenny, mostly in his kitchen. Some tasty home cooking! It's contemporary, yet we hear shades of Shaft-we expect to Curtis Mayfield to come through the door, and 30 seconds after we turned off the CD player the groove is still with us, toe tap toe tap. Great stuff from a skilled groovemeister.
Recording: This track is built on a melodic bass groove-two bars repeated forever. Kenny did the right thing: the bass sound is fat, warm, well-defined, tight, and Kenny lets no one step on it. The other element that anchors the infectious groove is the sound he uses on two and four. it's not a clear-cut sonic case-we hear a concoction of slightly flamming pair of sounds with a hint of handclap. Neither crisp nor dull, it has just the tone and weight needed to make this groove happen.
The kick, used consistently on one and three, doesn't stick out, it just sets up the "snare" combo sound on two and four for a comfortable rocking motion. Then there is all that sparingly used and well placed ear candy: a bari sax grunt, a triangle, a swift and trebly Shaft-like guitar wah lick, a reversed cymbal, momentary synth pads with gradual filter opening, 'rattlesnake' percussive sounds and more. All this under an unhurried synth lead solo, a continuous improvisation feeding off the one-chord groove.
Suggestions: Kepp doing what you do so well. We snooped around the other tracks on your CD and admire not just your excellent recording skills but your musical versatility and wit.
Summary: Ready for prime time."
REVIEW by "INDIE_MUSIC.com" (Jennifer Layton) 1/28/01:
"After playing in many, many bands since his first professional gig at age fourteen, Illinois musician Kenny Hays decided to show what he could do on his own. So he set up some instruments in his kitchen and recorded "Forty-Seven," releasing it through Hays Kitchen Productions. He's done everything himself - the writing, recording, mixing and producing. The final result is an excellent showcase for his versatility, both for different instruments and different styles of music.
He's at his best playing the guitar, which he's been playing since age eleven. In fact, Hays' guitar work on "The Italian Rebel" is so strong, I could have done without the synthesizer and drum machine. The guitar on this track belts out a good old American rock and roll wail - a celebratory, patriotic guitar rock solo. The kind that makes kids hold up their lighters at concerts. (My apartment has this thing about fire hazards, so I just waved my computer mouse.)
He plays smooth, romantic jazz on 'Atrophied.' he focuses on the keyboards and gets into a groove on the title track. I really liked the way the keyboards sounded like an entire horn section on 'Squidage.' He experiments. He has fun. And he apparently has a wife who doesn't mind trying to make tuna casserole wihile her husband ties up her counter space with recording equipment."
Bio:
When he was 11, his father won a guitar in a poker game and stashed it in the closet. Young Kenny found it and taught himself to play.
From his first professional gig at 14, Kenny has played with or taught almost every guitar player in the central Illinois/Indiana area. Playing in as many bands at one time as bossible, it is nothing to hear him playing country on Monday, blues on Wednesday, classic rock on the weekends and jazz on Sunday afternoons.
Not only a live player and teacher, Kenny has years of studio experience under his pick. Known as "one-take-Hays" in studios from here to Nashville, Kenny has played his signature licks on stacks of albums from regional artists.
Now for the first time, Kenny has released a raw, emotional solo instrumentsl album of his own material - "Forty-Seven". Not only is he the entire band, he wrote every song and recorded every note!
reviews
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Great cd! You'll not find a better synth/guitar cd
author: Jerry SmithFantastic imagination, all coming from one person. Can't wait for the next Kenny Hayes CD.
Kenny rocks,people!!
author: J.R.