"Jen Kearney's improvement has been steady and exquisite. Her versatility is outstanding, whether it's on rock-edged material that she pulls from the heart, or R&B-infused songs that she pulls from the soul.''
Lowell musician Jen Kearney’s latest work blends jazz riffs, latin rhythms, Motown grooves and a rock n’ roll sensibility into one cohesive album that should be savored like a fine meal, not scarfed down like a drive-through cheeseburger at 2 a.m. after a Saturday night out.
“The Year of the Ox” is a concept album where the songs were carefully crafted and then put together in a specific order.
Kearney’s voice has been compared to Stevie Wonder and on this album it sometimes sounds like him; sometimes like a young, screechy Michael Jackson; sometimes like a booming Joan Armatrading; and sometimes it’s uniquely her. But the music that accompanies her is truly original, blending a mixture of sounds including jazz flute with Motown saxophone, latin drums, and caressing backup vocals.
A good example is the masterpiece of the album: “Gentle and Precise.” This song is put together and built like a (pick one) masterful oil painting; a finely-tuned European sports car; or a gourmet stew; with many different things going on at once. But the arrangement by Kearney is flawless and it works.
It starts out with a riff reminiscent of Miles Davis, heads into a mariachi trumpet sound, and then Kearney’s deep strong voice belts out, “Busy fools building shrines, Got a high education, But can’t seem to lift up their minds.” Her staccato inflection is then buoyed by a crescendo of soothing backup vocals. You hear all of these rhythms and melodies at once and you can’t help but smile (and maybe even dance).
Twelve musicians play a variety of instruments which makes this a very different album. There’s a trumpet, a flugelhorn, tenor sax, flute, trombone, violin and viola to go along with the standard lead guitar, drums, bass and keyboards. There is also something called a cuica and talking drum and a theremin, which provides some of the other-worldly sounds.
Other highlights include the songs:
“To the Moon”: This song has a funky groove with a bopping bass line layed down by Brian Coakley, followed later by some jazz flute by Dan Abreu that sounds reminiscent of Tito Puente’s band.
“Succotash Blue”: Kearny sounds like a young Michael Jackson here with a nice jam session towards the end.
“Bossa Nova Stereo”: Opens like a song from the Buena Vista Social Club album and ends with a bossa nova beat. Nice lyrics about a wise woman giving her advice: “She said you’ll never find peace thinking the way you think, It’s not in a man, in a pill or a drink, Keep rolling along, Keep writing your song, And you’ll learn baby.”
The main theme that runs through this album is the desire for self-improvement and the pull of nature (specifically the moon) vs our free will. Kearney uses these primitive concepts to take us on a wild musical ride into what makes us human.
(”The Year of the Ox” is available on CD at CDBaby and for download at Amazon.com.)
(Discover more roots music in the Music section.)
Alan Chase's Jazz Universe | Print | E-mail
Written by Alan Chase
Friday, 07 August 2009
In the last few weeks, several promising new recordings have come my way. From the Boston area, there’s “The Year of the Ox,” the second effort from exceptional singer-songwriter and keyboardist Jen Kearney and her band The Lost Onion. Whereas her first very strong CD was geared toward groove oriented jams, this compelling new recording places greater emphasis on shorter song forms. This isn’t a jazz recording, per se, but elements of jazz inform Kearney’s music, along with Latin, funk, soul and rock.
What’s particularly striking is the story-like quality of Kearney’s lyrics and how she wraps them in just the right musical textures. According to Kearney, this is a concept recording based on the symbol of the ox, one of the Chinese astrological signs, and the 10 ox herding pictures created in ancient Buddhism. All the songs are loosely based on the 10 pictures and what they represent.
From a musical standpoint, what you get is a sonic ride from the opening funk groove of “Born” to the soulful “Succotash Blue” to the folk influenced “Gentle and Precise” to the jazz-fusion groove of “Lunar Interlude.” Kearney’s powerful but nuanced vocal work captures your attention and holds your interest as she tells her story. Her exceptional band navigates varied styles with ease, anchored by the powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Brian Coakley, drummer Pete McLean (of Organism and Freelance Bishops fame) and the always superb Yahuba Garcia on percussion. The excellent horn section is anchored by saxophonist Dan Abreu, who gets off an incredible solo on “Lunar Interlude.”
I do wish I could hear more of Kearney’s exceptional keyboard work. She plays a very melodically imaginative solo on “Succotash Blue” that shows she has exceptional skill. Hopefully, a little more of this will show through on future releases.
To purchase the CD, visit www.jenkearney.com. To see Kearny and the Lost Onion live, head to the Blue Mermaid in Portsmouth on Thursday, Aug. 13, or The Stone Church in Newmarket on Aug. 27.
The album. A lost art? Not according to Lowell's Jen Kearney and the Lost Onion. From the opening retro groove of Born, each of the 13 songs on Year of the Ox transitions into the next with instrumental interludes as silky and funky as anything by the Ohio Players. Upon hearing about David Carradine's sad and mysterious end last week, I've been feeling a little nostalgic, Kung Fu not only being my favorite TV series of the early 70's, but also substituting as my religion for a few years. With the slick sounds of Year of the Ox blaring in the headphones, I've been dizzily transported back to when Stevie Wonder's Living in the City and the O'Jays Backstabbers ruled the airwaves, blending funky grooves with socio/political themes. And with a voice that rivals Stevie Wonder and Eddie Levert in power and soul, Jen Kearney delivers the goods with a passion and conviction that leaves no question she's one of the best female vocalists singing right now. Equally as impressive are the lush, layers of R&B background vocals which glaze every song with a warm blast of sunshine. To the Moon, with its funky Fender Rhodes piano intro, guitar and bass counter melody and a two note horn part that is a lesson in understated perfection, is the standout track, simmering into an infectious chorus you'll find yourself basking in for days. Other notable tracks include Prime Meridian which begins as a simple piano waltz and erupts into a full blown anthem worthy of an arena sized venue, and Trudge, a gospel flavored lament on the hooky lyric "Trudge as you may, try as you might." Simply beautiful. The musicianship is top notch throughout notably the vintage sounds of Carl Johnson's guitar work and Dan Abreu's stellar tenor sax playing.
If you're growing a little tired of downloading songs, and if you find yourself longing for the days of the LP, you owe it to yourself to get your hands on Year of the Ox. It is one special album. JKLO continue to celebrate the release of Year of the Ox at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge this Thursday night. Should be one mind altering trip down memory lane and into the future.
"When Jen Kearney and her band the Lost Onion are rumbling along at full throttle, they conjure up a deliciously infectious sound unlike almost anything other local pop/rock artists are doing. It’s muscular and sinuous and bluesy and rollicking and Latin-drenched and…well, think Susan Tedeschi backed by Stevie Wonder’s band Wonderlove, and you’ll have a vague point of reference..."
Some say it was the low humidity and the soft summer breeze, while others claim it was the lateness of the season or even the nature of the music. Whatever the reason, last September's Los Lobos concert at Boarding House Park in downtown Lowell played out like the unofficial sendoff party to another spectacular Summer Music Series. In a night full of surprises, one of the biggest may have been the powerful opening set by a local eight-piece soul/jazz/Latin sensation called Jen Kearney & The Lost Onion.
Enraptured by Kearney's soulful vocals, percussionist Yahuba Garcia's relentless conga rhythms, and a trio of funky horns, the smiling faces and shaking hips in the crowd that night confirmed what some Lowell residents have known for years- Jen Kearney & The Lost Onion know how to command an audience. For Kearney herself, playing that night with East L.A.'s Grammy winning veterans was a high point in a fifteen year career that she has sidelined on a few occassions, but to which she is now fully dedicated.
Born and raised in Hingham, MA., Kearney moved to Lowell in the early 90s to study music at UMass. Unfortunately, having grown up in a musical family with no formaly training, Kearney's "play-by-ear" philosophy didn't translate well to the university setting. "There was alot of sight reading and sheet music involved, especially with piano, " recalls Kearney. "So I opted to do open mic nights instead, and to learn from other musicians."
It was this decision, and the musical friendships she would make during this time, that would help shape Kearney's musical career and keep her firmly planted in the Mill City. One of the friendships, with percussionist Yahuba Garcia, proved quite valuable when Kearney decided to recruit a full band in 2001. As on of the two original Lost Onion members still performing with the group (along with trombonist Corey Blanchette), Garcia helped incorporate Latin flavor into Kearney's music. "Yahuba is from Puerto Rico," says Kearney, "so he was born into the culture. Once he found out I was into it, he totally schooled me on Latin music." Garcia continues to play an important part in the songwriting process, regularly assisting with arrangements.
Self-released in September 2006, Jen Kearney & The Lost Onion's album, EAT, was composed by Kearney during the two-year period following a crucial decision to leave her job, sell her house, and take the plunge into a full-time music career. A lengthy stint in the corporate world had garnered her attention, but not enough to keep her away from her true calling.
Featuring some of the area's most talented musicians, including Henley Douglas Jr. and Pete MacLean of the Boston Horns, the songs on EAT perfectly reflect the band's eclectic live experience. From the organ-drenched soul of "Pick Yourself Up" and the horn-driven jazz of "Warm Bath Eyes" to the laid back funk of "Grandpa" and the sultry blues of "Forgiven," a variety of styles blend together in a unique stew the band describes as "funky soul rock poured over rice and beans," and "Stevie Wonder goes to Cuba."
Not surprisingly, Jen Kearney & The Lost Onion are bringing their sound to a number of area music festivals throughout the summer including the Maine Garden Festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, and the Salem Jazz and Soul festival. Just as those who were at last summer's Los Lobos show discovered, Kearney's music is best enjoyed under blue skies and warm sunshine. Just be sure to leave plenty of room to dance.
Jen Kearney and the Lost Onion 'Eat' | Print | E-mail
Written by Alan Chase
Wednesday, 15 November 2006
self-released
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of “music without barriers.” As such, I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open for recordings from musicians that best represent this approach. “Eat,” an intelligent and vibrant CD by singer-songwriter Jen Kearney and her remarkable band The Lost Onion, is such a recording. The band seamlessly blends elements of soul and Latin with a touch of jazz influence, all in a very natural way.
The music on “Eat” sounds like a meeting between Stevie Wonder and Lydia Pense/Cold Blood at the junction of Santana and Eddie Palmieri, but without being blatantly derivative. Kearney pulls it off by being an exceptionally able songwriter. Her tunes blend sophisticated melodies and harmonies with sharp, story-like lyrics that offer snapshots of her world. You hear all of these elements come together on tunes like the laid-back “Grandpa,” the burning samba “Warm Bath Eyes,” the straight up Latin-rock of “Patience Child,” which features a burning synth solo from guest Nate Wilson, and the deep reggae groove on the tune “Amity.”
Kearney is also a powerful singer, with a full and clear vocal style that weaves naturally in and around all of the tunes, and a fine keyboard player who utilizes a variety of colorful textures throughout the music. The musicians who make up The Lost Onion are some of the best players on the Boston scene. Anchored by the subtly powerful percussion work of Yahuba Garcia, the band includes a powerhouse horn section that includes the superb saxophonist Henley Douglas Jr. (Boston Horns) and the remarkable trombonist Corey Blanchette. Drummer Pete McLean (Boston Horns and Organism) guests on several cuts, adding his incisive playing and deep-pocket groove to Yahuba’s percussion work to give several tunes a high level of energy, especially on “Warm Bath Eyes” and “Patience Child.”
Kearney’s eclectic approach was nurtured in her youth. A self-taught musician, her formal training included a few piano lessons as a child (she says on her Web site that she was told not to return after playing the R&B tune “Kansas City” in a lesson) followed by a brief stint at the University of Lowell’s music program, where she met many of the musicians on the CD. But her best training came via the local hoot nights in the Lowell area and varied band experiences, all of which helped her to develop her writing style.
You can sample Kearney’s work online at www.jenkearney.com. Better yet, Kearney is November’s featured artist for the Wednesday Residency series at the Barley Pub in Dover. While she’s working with a stripped down version of her band, the show will provide you with the chance to hear a wonderful new talent on the Northeast music scene. As for “Eat,” this is one of the best CD’s I’ve heard this year.
Behold a small Wonder: Lowell’s Jen Kearney
By Larry Katz
Boston Herald Music Critic
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - Updated: 07:39 AM EST
Take it from me. Listening to dozens of new CDs week after week can get frustrating. There’s no end of rappers yapping to the same beat, heavy-metal dudes shrieking and shredding, r & b singers trying to be the new Luther or Beyonce, cookie-cutter country singers, and indie pop bands trying to out-cool each other.
Where’s the good stuff?
And then you chance upon a CD that lights up the pleasure center in your brain - and you know why you invest all those hours searching through the CD haystack.
A few weeks ago, I found gold during a marathon listening session. Actually, I wasn’t listening all that carefully. I grabbed a CD off the top of my pile, put it on and walked out of the room.
After a few minutes of not paying attention, a voice penetrated my consciousness. Stevie Wonder? Not quite. But something close to the wondrous flavor of prime ’70s Stevie. I’m hearing inklings of the funky Latin groove thing of “Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing.” Who is this guy?
Two shocks ensued. The guy with the young Stevie voice wasn’t a guy. It’s a woman named Jen Kearney. Her CD, “Eat,” credited to Jen Kearney and the Lost Onion, didn’t contain much in the way of clues about her, but it did supply a Web address. Which delivered shock No. 2: She wasn’t some hot newcomer from New York or Los Angeles. She lives in Lowell.
“I grew up in Hingham,” Kearney told me earlier this week. “I went to music school at the University of Lowell, as it used to be called. South Shore to North Shore. My big exotic migration.”
Kearney qualifies as a well-kept local secret. That’s what happens to talented people who pursue a course unrelated to popular trends. Kearney not only sings, but plays electric piano and writes smart, sharp songs such as “Patience Child,” which opens with the arresting command, “Oh girl, put down that fashion magazine, it makes you tired.”
“I’m honored and flattered when people mention Stevie Wonder,” Kearney said. “I was a big fan of soul music and Motown, growing up. I don’t seek to emulate anybody, but it just rubbed off on me.”
She comes from a musical family.
“My grandfather played violin. He came over from Sicily and was offered a scholarship to New England Conservatory, but he had to turn it down to sell vegetables at Haymarket, which is what he’s doing on the picture on the cover of (my) CD. My uncle Sal is a piano player. He showed me and my brother how to play when we were kids, and he end up giving me a Fender Rhodes 15 years ago.”
Sicily, soul, OK. But where does the Latin undertow in her music come from?
“I went to culinary school after music school. I wanted to be a chef. I had a job at a bakery and had to get up at 3 a.m. The only thing on the radio was a station that played Cuban and Afro-Latin music and I just totally fell in love with it. Then I met Yahuba, our percussion player, who’s from Puerto Rico, and he taught me a lot.”
Kearney has a gig tomorrow at Felt, one of her sporadic Boston appearances. But with a spring tour of the Southeast planned and her music spreading via the Internet, she’s looking to take the next step.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” she said, “Any day, any time someone wants to put us on a tour bus.”
MUSIC SCENE: Kearney finds the right jazzy recipe
Hingham native Jen Kearney and her band The Lost Onion are at Harpers Ferry in Allston on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Anthony Tieuli)
By JAY N. MILLER
By The Patriot Ledger
Hingham native Jen Kearney and her samba/soul music is finally starting to get noticed, with rave reviews and radio play starting to pile up. Which just might prove that there is still a market for adventurous music that touches your heart and moves your hips.
Kearney and her band The Lost Onion headline Harpers Ferry in Allston on Saturday night.
The group’s latest album, ‘‘Eat,’’ released last fall, is their best yet, and regionally it has begun to make a dent on the airwaves. WFNX has been playing cuts regularly on the Sunday Jazz Brunch program.
Of course Kearney’s music is not precisely jazz, although it includes lots of jazzy elements- - rock ‘n’ soul, Latin and Afro-Cuban, soca and reggae, jazz and samba.
Kearney’s own musical pedigree is similar in its diversity. Her grandfather was a violinist, her mother is a singer, and her uncle Sal was a piano player. Kearney studied violin from third grade to seventh grade, and even had an brief fling at piano lessons-.
Kearney’s years at Hingham High included chorus, but it also included a rock band in her senior year, where the set list might include harder rock like Led Zeppelin, The Who, or Living Colour. Her own tastes, however, ran more toward Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and classic Motown.
Kearney attended UMass-Lowell to study music, but she ended up dropping out and later attended culinary school.
That cooking background may have led to her most important musical revelation.
‘‘I was working early mornings in a bakery in Lowell,’’ Kearney said from her Lowell home, ‘‘and in the early morning the only music program we could find was a Spanish language station, playing Cuban music.
It was really offbeat stuff I’d never heard before, and really grew to love it. Latin and Afro-Cuban has been a huge influence on me over the past 10 years.
The other band members, too, have their role in influencing the group’s sound. Bassist Brian Coakley and drummer Pete MacLean, ‘‘turned out to be very well-versed in the Latin style,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘And then Yahuba, our percussionist, is Puerto Rican and he helps us all out a lot, coaching and showing us new things, and which albums to buy. Yahuba himself has been an enormous influence on me.’’
All of Kearney’s fascinating but widely arrayed influences come to the fore on the new album.
The Stevie Wonder vocal comparisons that have followed her since her first record are most obvious on tunes like ‘‘Pick Yourself Up,’’ while a more big band jazz/funk tune like ‘‘Amity’’ suggests Aretha joining Blood, Sweat and Tears for a gig in Brazil. ‘‘Pantomime’’ takes a more measured, sultry South of the Border path, as if the band WAR’s song ‘‘Low Rider’’ met ‘‘The Girl from Ipanema.’’
But whatever you want to call it, Kearney and the Lost Onion provide a dense musical potpourri that is ever surprising. When they followed their pals in 2Adam12 last month at the latter’s CD release party at The Middle East in Cambridge, The Lost Onion continued the 2Adam12 fiesta vibe, yet took it in more of a big band jazz-rock direction. Having heard those amazingly crafted compositions, it is fairly maddening to hear Kearney, who now plays mostly electric piano and some guitar, writes music fairly automatically, if not effortlessly.
‘‘I don’t just sit there and try and force myself to write in a certain style,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘This type of music seems to be an unusually easy style for me to do. If I go back and tweak anything later, it is almost always the words to the songs - that’s the hardest part, to fit them into the music.’’
Aside from the intricate arrangements, which the whole band helps flesh out, the other startling thing about the new album is how potent and confident Kearney’s vocals are, even as she glides through that panoply of styles.
‘‘I find my singing the most playable part of any of this music,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘I feel like my voice is kind of the one built-in ingredient in all of these songs, and so that makes it the easiest part for me. As long as I can remember the words, it’s OK. I love singing, to tell the truth, and as I have concentrated more on singing, my voice seems to have gotten stronger. But more than that, I just think singing is a natural part of this music, and it is also a good emotional release too.’’
Kearney, whose band on Saturday will include Vinnie Briguglio, replacing Coakley on bass; MacLean on drums; Corey B on trombone; Carl Johnson on lead guitar; and Yahuba on percussion, has had no trouble keeping her sextet together.
‘‘All of my guys work in other bands too, but we just work it out somehow when we book our gigs,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t ask anyone NOT to play in another band. But we’ve been really lucky in getting plenty of work. Most of us do have day jobs, like mine, very flexible day jobs to supplement our music.’’
The new CD is the result of two years or more of writing and recording demos, and Kearney hopes it can raise their profile nationally.
‘‘The new album is sort of done in a lot of new styles we tried out, so it doesn’t stick with any particular style, and it’s not a concept album,’’ Kearney explained. ‘‘It is a compilation of a couple years of material, and my band members are so good they elevate the music to levels I’d only dreamed about.’’
If you go
What: Jen Kearney and The Lost Onion; with New York City rockers Greg Mayo and The Groove opening.
Where: Harpers Ferry, Allston.
When: Saturday
Tickets: $5; box office, 1-800-594-TIXX or harpersferryboston.com.
Details: 21-plus show.
Jay N. Miller covers popular music on the South Shore and in the Boston area. If you have information or ideas for Jay about the local music scene, bookings, recordings, artists etc., send it to him by e-mail to features@ledger.com . Attn: Music Scene in the subject line.
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Friday, February 23, 2007
MUSIC SCENE: Kearney finds the right jazzy recipe
Hingham native Jen Kearney and her band The Lost Onion are at Harpers Ferry in Allston on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Anthony Tieuli)
By JAY N. MILLER
By The Patriot Ledger
Hingham native Jen Kearney and her samba/soul music is finally starting to get noticed, with rave reviews and radio play starting to pile up. Which just might prove that there is still a market for adventurous music that touches your heart and moves your hips.
Kearney and her band The Lost Onion headline Harpers Ferry in Allston on Saturday night.
The group’s latest album, ‘‘Eat,’’ released last fall, is their best yet, and regionally it has begun to make a dent on the airwaves. WFNX has been playing cuts regularly on the Sunday Jazz Brunch program.
Of course Kearney’s music is not precisely jazz, although it includes lots of jazzy elements- - rock ‘n’ soul, Latin and Afro-Cuban, soca and reggae, jazz and samba.
Kearney’s own musical pedigree is similar in its diversity. Her grandfather was a violinist, her mother is a singer, and her uncle Sal was a piano player. Kearney, now 33, studied violin from third grade to seventh grade, and even had an brief fling at piano lessons-.
Kearney’s years at Hingham High included chorus, but it also included a rock band in her senior year, where the set list might include harder rock like Led Zeppelin, The Who, or Living Colour. Her own tastes, however, ran more toward Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and classic Motown.
Kearney attended UMass-Lowell to study music, but she ended up dropping out and later attended culinary school.
That cooking background may have led to her most important musical revelation.
‘‘I was working early mornings in a bakery in Lowell,’’ Kearney said from her Lowell home, ‘‘and in the early morning the only music program we could find was a Spanish language station, playing Cuban music.
It was really offbeat stuff I’d never heard before, and really grew to love it. Latin and Afro-Cuban has been a huge influence on me over the past 10 years.
The other band members, too, have their role in influencing the group’s sound. Bassist Brian Coakley and drummer Pete MacLean, both from Berklee College of Music, ‘‘turned out to be very well-versed in the Latin style,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘And then Yahuba, our percussionist, is Puerto Rican and he helps us all out a lot, coaching and showing us new things, and which albums to buy. Yahuba himself has been an enormous influence on me.’’
All of Kearney’s fascinating but widely arrayed influences come to the fore on the new album.
The Stevie Wonder vocal comparisons that have followed her since her first record are most obvious on tunes like ‘‘Pick Yourself Up,’’ while a more big band jazz/funk tune like ‘‘Amity’’ suggests Aretha joining Blood, Sweat and Tears for a gig in Brazil. ‘‘Pantomime’’ takes a more measured, sultry South of the Border path, as if the band WAR’s song ‘‘Low Rider’’ met ‘‘The Girl from Ipanema.’’
But whatever you want to call it, Kearney and the Lost Onion provide a dense musical potpourri that is ever surprising. When they followed their pals in 2Adam12 last month at the latter’s CD release party at The Middle East in Cambridge, The Lost Onion continued the 2Adam12 fiesta vibe, yet took it in more of a big band jazz-rock direction. Having heard those amazingly crafted compositions, it is fairly maddening to hear Kearney, who now plays mostly electric piano and some guitar, writes music fairly automatically, if not effortlessly.
‘‘I don’t just sit there and try and force myself to write in a certain style,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘This type of music seems to be an unusually easy style for me to do. If we go back and tweak anything later, it is almost always the words to the songs - that’s the hardest part, to fit them into the music.’’
Aside from the intricate arrangements, which the whole band helps flesh out, the other startling thing about the new album is how potent and confident Kearney’s vocals are, even as she glides through that panoply of styles.
‘‘I find my singing the most playable part of any of this music,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘I feel like my voice is kind of the one built-in ingredient in all of these songs, and so that makes it the easiest part for me. As long as I can remember the words, it’s OK. I love singing, to tell the truth, and as I have concentrated more on singing, my voice seems to have gotten stronger. But more than that, I just think singing is a natural part of this music, and it is also a good emotional release too.’’
Kearney, whose band on Saturday will include Vinnie Briguglio, replacing Coakley on bass; MacLean on drums; Corey B on trombone; Carl Johnson on lead guitar; and Yahuba on percussion, has had no trouble keeping her sextet together.
‘‘All of my guys work in other bands too, but we just work it out somehow when we book our gigs,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t ask anyone NOT to play in another band. But we’ve been really lucky in getting plenty of work. Most of us do have day jobs, like mine, very flexible day jobs to supplement our music.’’
The new CD is the result of two years or more of writing and recording demos, and Kearney hopes it can raise their profile nationally.
‘‘The new album is sort of done in a lot of new styles we tried out, so it doesn’t stick with any particular style, and it’s not a concept album,’’ Kearney explained. ‘‘It is a compilation of a couple years of material, and my band members are so good they elevate the music to levels I’d only dreamed about.’’
MONDAY: NEW FLAVOR STOLEY: I’m partial to the Ruby Red Stoli myself, but musically speaking, Stoley P.T. might be one of the tastiest rock flavors to emerge lately. Stoley is a Chicago rocker and former rock DJ who you might remember as the guy who won a rent-free year in a luxury NYC apartment as part of an MTV promotion for the movie ‘‘Joe’s Apartment.’’
While lounging around New York City, Stoley got a gig as a recurring character on Conan O’Brien’s show, as ‘‘Gun-toting, NASCAR-driving Jesus.’’ But in his spare time Stoley also began writing and playing rock and roll with an off-kilter edge. That led to Stoley P.T., the band whose name translates simply as Stoley Power Trio, with the addition of Berklee grad Rob Draghi on drums and Mark Turrigiano on bass. After recording his national debut, ‘‘Lesson #1,’’ Stoley had to replace Turrigiano, who went back to producing, so Janine Yoong will be the bassist when the trio hits The Middle East in Cambridge on Monday night. The music ranges from happy to bittersweet to suffused with snarky irony, and musically it’s alt-rock from the more mainstream side of the Pixies. And you gotta love a band with a tune called ‘‘Cat Bong,’’ a picture of which graces the CD cover.
LATE DATES: Steve Murphy’s Gasoline Blues Band ignites Kilroy’s in Quincy on Saturday night, and it’s safe to say Murph knows his way around the old shipyard venue.
If you go
What: Jen Kearney and The Lost Onion; with New York City rockers Greg Mayo and The Groove opening.
Where: Harpers Ferry, Allston.
When: Saturday
Tickets: $5; box office, 1-800-594-TIXX or harpersferryboston.com.
Details: 21-plus show.
Jay N. Miller covers popular music on the South Shore and in the Boston area. If you have information or ideas for Jay about the local music scene, bookings, recordings, artists etc., send it to him by e-mail to features@ledger.com . Attn: Music Scene in the subject line.
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Friday, February 23, 2007
LIFE & LEISURE
MUSIC SCENE: R & B, Cuban influences help Kearney find her soul
By JAY N. MILLER
For The Patriot Ledger
Jen Kearney treasures a capsule description of her music that was posted on the CDBaby web site by someone who had heard her 2002 CD ‘‘Bravery.’’
‘‘It sounds like Stevie Wonder goes to Cuba,’’ said the blurb.
Which is a pretty impressive musical identity for a white woman from Hingham.
Kearney and her band The Lost Onion host a Christmas party Dec. 23 at Ryles Jazz Club in Inman Square, Cambridge.
‘‘I think that was such a cool comparison,’’ said Kearney, from her Lowell home. ‘‘Stevie Wonder was an enormous influence on me growing up. Then a few years ago, I was working at a bakery and discovered this great program of Cuban music at 4 a.m. I totally fell in love with it, and began implementing Latin styles like that into my own music. What I find so amazing about Cuban music is the way they can play piano almost as a percussion instrument - something that corresponds very well with my own style of playing.’’
Kearney, who plays piano and guitar as well as singing in her band, began her music career as a violinist from third grade to seventh grade. ‘‘My grandfather had played violin, and my mom was a singer, and my uncle Sal played piano,’’ Kearney recalled. ‘‘My brother and I would hang out with Uncle Sal and watch him play piano and teach us things about music all day. While I was playing violin in grade school, I also began singing in the school chorus.
‘‘Then I got away from it a little bit, until my senior year in high school when I joined a rock band.’’
Alas, the name of that long gone Hingham High rock group has been lost to history, but Kearney reports that they performed a heavier brand of rock than she’s focusing on now. Led Zeppelin, Living Colour, The Who and The Doors might have comprised an average set list. Kearney admits her own tastes had taken a slightly different turn.
‘‘I would listen to Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and all these old soul records my mother had,’’ she said. ‘‘Like every kid with their own imagination running wild, I’d emulate them in my room every day, pretending I was a rock star. Today, my music totally comes out like Aretha, Otis and the Jackson Five - all that soul, and people always think my appearance doesn’t match the sounds coming out of me. I take it as a compliment, because I think somehow, by osmosis, that music has really become who I am musically.’’
Enthralled with the performing bug, Kearney looked for a good music school and settled on UMass-Lowell. The fact that she couldn’t read music when she went in didn’t deter her, but it was a major factor in her leaving school after two years.
‘‘Not being able to read music made it tough to get through the music courses there,’’ she said. ‘‘Looking back I wish I had learned how. But I came out a performer. And I met so many good musicians, we decided to play together, and eventually began writing our own songs.’’
Some friends in the rock band The Shods had a basement studio with an ancient reel-to-reel recording system, so Kearney became part of a loose aggregation of musicians who’d gather there to jam, compose their own tunes, and eventually record them for fun.
That funky basement setting became the home of Poor House Records, and its first project was a compilation album of area songwriters.
‘‘That’s what really got me writing my own music,’’ said Kearney. ‘‘I jumped right in, and I loved it. There’s a soul-baring quality to soul music that makes it almost therapeutic, and writing it feels natural to me now.’’
Currently Kearney has a four-song EP available on her web site (jenkearney.com) that’s a sort of appetizer for her forthcoming album, expected in March. The EP contains three new compositions, as well as a gritty cover of Aretha Franklin’s ‘‘Dr. Feelgood.’’ Some of the other cuts she’s been doing recently, which will be on the full album, features the Boston Horns.
Kearney had been playing in more of a pop-rock style in a trio, but this new work finds her back in soul city.
‘‘In the rock trio I was playing much more guitar than piano,’’ Kearney noted. ‘‘We were into pop-rock at the time, a bit like the first album I’m on, called ‘Kearney Square (1999),’ which was rock and soul. The trio was definitely more power pop, emphasizing the guitar. I think now I have really found my own voice, and a style I’m completely comfortable in.’’
Kearney’s band, the Lost Onion, includes Georges Lenoc’h on drums, Brian Coakley on bass, Corey B. on trombone, Henley Douglas on saxes, and Yahuba Garcia on Latin percussion.
Partly thorugh her own musical evolution, and partly because her music straddles genres, Kearney hasn’t performed much south of Boston, despite the many blues and R&B clubs. That’s a problem she hopes to overcome soon.
‘‘We haven’t really tried to play the Sea Note (in Hull) yet, for example,’’ she admitted. ‘‘I used to go there a lot as a kid to hear some great R&B, but we haven’t really played much outside Boston. I still have a lot of friends in Hingham, Weymouth, Scituate and Quincy, and they generally come into Boston to see us play. But we are playing in New Hampshire and Connecticut in January, and possibly at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge after that.
‘‘We’d sure like to get into some of those South Shore clubs, and hopefully the new album in March will help.’’
Originals like ‘‘You’re Wrong This Time’’ and ‘‘Pick Yourself Up’’ show Kearney’s development as a songwriter, while that Latin influence obviously permeates ‘‘Peso del Mundo.’’ And don’t be surprised if her live show includes a Wonder cover, like ‘‘Livin’ For The City,’’ which she frequently does. One of those CDBaby customer reviews calls Kearney’s previous CD ‘‘a perfect combination of samba and soul,’’ and it’s a description she’ll also embrace. For the soul woman from Hingham, following her own path has always been the primary goal.
‘‘I basically try to go by my gut,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘Like anybody else, I had my struggles and doubts at the beginning. You need people you can trust to bounce things off, but you also have to trust yourself and your own songwriting talent. It often comes down to having the guts to do it your way. I used to have this falsetto voice that I’d affect to try and sound girlie, while my speaking voice is obviously much lower. I had a good friend tell me to just find my own voice and let it out. I think it all started to come together for me when I finally found the guts to let my own voice fly out.’’
No Tears: Jen Kearney and the Lost Onion
by Rodney X
I f you're lucky and in the right place at the right time, one can come across music
that is not only great, interesting, meaningful and fun, but actually sustaining and
nourishing. Music that seems to take hold of the listener and makes sense out of
whatever doubt, fear, or desire a person may bring to it. Sometimes music can give
voice and physicality to a repressed desire. In my experiences in club land, I have
found that although bands with this quality are few and far between, they are there.
These possibilities make seeing live music worth it. Sometimes the band itself doesn't
know that soul is the key to this. It's not soul music per se, but the expression of the artist's soul through the medium of music. A case in point is Jen Kearney and the Lost
Onion.
Jen Kearney displayed this prowess on her earliest recordings. As an upstart teenager in 1994, she stole the show on the local Poorhouse Records Volume 1 Compilation CD with four live studio tracks. She opened the disc with “They Were in Love”, a cryptic
50s-style R&B song that displayed her blossoming songwriting skills. On “You're Wrong This Time”, her voice delicately and vulnerably climbed to an empowering soul wail in the span of a breath. The moody tones of her Fender Rhodes piano, all atmosphere, rang with heavy portent. Additionally, her vocals on local legend Rick Fuller's tunes were in turn ethereal and grounding. She became a favorite during the eclectic local music revival in the late '90s. Things got serious when she formed Kearney Square in 1998, a power trio featuring Jen on guitar and keyboard, Bob Nash on drums and Jim Pittman on bass. They played psychedelic hard rock with a heavy dose of funk, along with the
occasional show stopping AC/DC cover. They rocked. Testament to this fact lies on their debut CD On Fire, named after their set closing number. The song is a swirling Middle Eastern- flavored rocker that displayed the amazing range of her voice and tested
the confines of a three piece combo. After a couple of years of relentless gigging, Kearney Square disbanded. Experience and travel had broadened Jen's horizons
and taken her songwriting into new directions. In 2002, she released her self-produced solo record Bravery. This album expanded her sound tenfold with the addition of some stellar horn playing and tasty percussion by members of what would become
The Lost Onion. Jen explored Cuban-tinged dance music and straight-out pop. The new band became road-tested and tight, regularly playing the Boston to New York circuit in addition to local gigs. The current lineup consists of the following: Jen Kearney on
guitar, vocals and keyboard, Latin percussion guru, Yahuba on various instruments, Brian Coakley on bass, Corey B. on trombone, Georges Lenochon on drums, Rima Jakabauskas on sax, and Mark Mullins on trumpet. They are completing a full-length CD (still untitled) that Jen guesses is a couple months away. I met her in a workingman's pub, and after a pitcher and a game of pool, I let some questions fly.
R:Have you considered it a help or hinderance being a woman
in the music world?
J:Well it helps in some ways, but like most things there is the other
side where there have been some drawbacks.
R:Stalkers?
J: No not really, but like dealing with people pigeonholing you on the
first impressions they get and even people being intimidated in
some ways.
R:Well you are very talented, as well as being very attractive
and confident in your individual style, stage presence and
demeanor.
J:Aw shucks.
R:No, that's not quite what I mean. You are very at home on
stage and in a lot of circumstances that type of confidence is
a little intimidating, especially with such powerful music and
your delivery.
J: No, I'm not exactly a shrinking violet.
R:How much room is there for improvisation in your songs?
J: Everyone in the band has their say. I like to let them write their
own parts, but those parts are pretty much set when we play out.
Yahuba will write out the horn parts once we work it out. Then
they're pretty much set. In some of our newer songs, like there's
one with a Soca rythym, the horn parts are very tight. But there
are other songs that we play live that we open up and have more
room for improv or solos. Very rarely do I write with say, a bass
part in mind. If I do I'll suggest it, but the beauty of having a great
band is that the are versatile and can play it the way you wanted it
or with slight variations or can come up with something totally
different.
R:What was the worst gig?
J: Oh no, this is bad. In my first year at UMass, I hooked up with
some people from my dorm who wanted to form a band. And they
seemed nice. The music was kind of way out there and loud hippie
rock. The band was called Allah's Crystal Moon.
R:That should have tipped you off.
J: You live and you learn. Anyway we practiced together like twice
when the singer says he's booked a gig. I was psyched envisioning
a cool college gig; keg beer, dancing, illicit behavior, you know
fun. After a two hour drive, we arrive at a nursing home full of not
very ambulatory senior citizens who were wheeled down to the
function room for some "music". I nervously began playing some
light jazz on the piano while Allah's Crystal Moon was settingup,
knowing what was coming. We played the full set and it was just
not appropriate. I wanted to crawl away and die. Awful just awful.
R:What advice do you have for women or anyone who wants to
get into playing?
J: Be prepared for the worst, that way you'll never be surprised by
anything, just kidding. Kind of. Really though, get as many gigs as
possible, because they are all learning experiences. You must be
confident in yourself and do it for yourself, because there will be
times on stage when things aren't going great and you'll need to
focus on why you're doing it. Don't let the praise get you too high
or the criticism get you too low. If you're doing it for yourself the
praise and the criticism won't be important anyway.