|
About
Us |
Since its beginning the band has demonstrated its ability to perform the music of jazz greats from Duke Ellington to John Coltrane and even the new music masters of today such as Phillip Mossman, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett and Bobby Watson. This also
includes the music styles of the contemporary jazz masters such as Grover Washington Jr., Art Porter,
Najee, and David Sanborn. His band repertoire includes Kevin's own compositions and favorites of the swing era, funky standards by the jazz greats, and an array of styles form various jazz idioms, funk, fusion, swing, bop, reggae, and latin.
Not only has Kevin Flowers
performed all over world as a guest artist of many jazz greats such as
Harry Connick Jr., Roy Hargrove, Bobby Watson, David Haynes, Hanibal
Peterson, and Richard Davis. He has headlined jazz festivals in Berlin
and played in several of the majors clubs throughout Germany such as,
Berlin: Quasimodo Jazz Club, A-Trane, Franz Club, Frankfurt: Jazz Life,
Jazz Keller, Jazz Kneipe, Munich: The Unterfahrt, Heidelberg: Cave 54.
The leader and saxophonists,
Kevin Flowers, have brought together some of the finest musicians from
the Norfolk VA area, to form a unique sound that is constantly maturing
into a solid wall of diverse talents. His saxophone is the heart and
nucleus of the group that offers traditional elements of jazz with new
and fresh modern tastes of his own personnel American and European
experiences.
He is supported by a rhythm
section of drums, Leon Alexander, Dexter Whitaker on Bass, and on Guitar
Andre Avelino, and Tim McDonald on keyboards that demonstrates its
ability to swing and change a groove from one style to the next from the
mood or direction of the music.
When the time is called for,
he adds one or two horns, Trombone and a trumpet, that makes the
sound of pleasure to the listeners ear, with his carefully arranged horn
lines and harmony its hard to turn away that "wall of sound." For more
effect he adds a vocalist. It is well know that words are a key factor
in music. With the vocals of James Dewberry, singing any style with the
band and can "whoo" the crowd at any given moment. Even when the
audience native tongue is not English the pitches of the vocalist can
overwhelm any audience. The combination of his horn and rhythm creates a
fascinating sound that forces the listener to truly concentrate on the
mood of the music. Be it the "fat accompaniment" of a saxophone
background lick backing up a solo or a "locked grove" of the rhythm
section makes the audience snap their fingers or clap their hands. If
the aforementioned does not give you enough then a down home "straight
ahead" solo will give the feeling of being back in the cool-era. This
total package not only plays the music, but also puts on a show that
gives visual impact. They give the audience something to focus upon wile
hear the beautiful sounds coming out of the band. Nonetheless the Kevin
Flowers Band can be summed in four words: spontaneous, diverse, powerful
and entertaining. |