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Kenny Lee Lewis • New Vintage
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Kenny Lee Lewis
New Vintage
Conquistador
Chicken Strut
Creepin' (In My Dreams)
Pick Up the Pieces
Diane
Bahama Mama
Get 2D Point
Revival
Walkin' the Fence
Gladiator Theme
Valdez in the Country
If I Only Had a Brain
"My music is sharing praise and worship to God on most high who gives us all gifts even before we are born." --Kenny Lee Lewis
Read Blog Critics Interview with Lewis.
About Lewis
Kenny Lee Lewis , Guitarist for The Steve Miller Band for over twenty-seven years, and notable session player in the L.A. area for over thirty-five years, offers this new solo guitar project. Co-produced with fellow band mate Billy Peterson, and featuring such artists as David Sanborn’s music director, Ricky Peterson and Sanborn alumnus, bassist Paul Peterson, Kenny has fulfilled a life long dream. His desire was to get back to his roots and pay homage to the era of jazz guitarists that influenced him while he was cutting his teeth in college jazz orchestras while growing up in Northern California.
By opening his ears and eyes to those wonderfully melodic and articulate sounds of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, and later Howard Roberts and George Benson, Kenny kept those influences in the background of his successful rock/pop career to finally emerge now on this diverse new album.
Taking a break from playing such mega-hits like “Fly Like an Eagle” and “The Joker” for thousands on tour each summer, Kenny Lee has brought together some of the finest celebrity musicians in the business to offer this celebration of classic groove-jazz. Returning back to his early influences while playing in college jazz bands, Kenny Lee borrows sounds and techniques from Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and Howard Roberts.
Featuring such notable players as Ricky Peterson, keyboardist and musical director for David Sanborn and currently with Bonnie Raitt. Billy Peterson, bassist and arranger for the Steve Miller Band, and co-owner of The Artist Quarter jazz club in St. Paul, MN. Paul Peterson, bassist for Kenny Loggins, George Benson, and Oleta Adams. Danny Pelfrey, saxophonist/composer who’s credits include Diana Ross and Carole King. Gordy Knutson, drummer for The Steve Miller Band and professor of percussion at the McNally-Smith College of Music in Minneapolis, MN. Jason DeLaire, saxophonist with Michael Bolton. Dianne Steinberg, recording artist and actress who portrayed “Lucy” in the Robert Stigwood production of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and many other talented session players.
Harkening back to the time when guitar instrumentals were in the top ten play-lists on radio, New Vintage takes the listener back to when the merits of melody and composition were lauded upon live musicians performing as a section. Using Hammond B-3 organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Minimoog synthesizer and other retro hardware of it’s day, Kenny Lee and co-producer Billy Peterson sought to capture the essence of the sounds from a by-gone era. Combined with acid-jazz and hip-hop influences, New Vintage crosses over the classiness of old CTI recordings and Creed Taylor productions with the grooves and feel of today’s contemporary new-age jazz.
Standout radio singles are Steve Wonder’s moody “Creepin (In my Dreams)”, a Brecker Bros. reminiscent funky original “Chicken Strut”, and Hans Zimmer’s eerie “Gladiator Theme”.
CD Review from Guitar Player Magazine
'10
New Vintage - This CD shows a different persona of Steve Miller Band guitarist Kenny Lee Lewis, who plays tastefully on a mix of original and cover tunes that lands on the smoother side of the jazz tracks. Revealing his fondness for the styles of Wes Montgomery and Grant Green, Lewis’ sweet tone and fluid playing, and the way he intersperses his solos with octave and chordal forays, are also squarely in the George Benson camp, which is just what the funky hip-hop grooves of his compositions “Conquistador” and “Chicken Strut,” or the classic “Valdez in the Country” call for. These and other upbeat cuts are offset by some cool and introspective guitar work on “Diane,” Stevie Wonder’s “Creepin’ (In my Dreams),” and also the fingerstyle intro to “If I Only Had a Brain,” which shows yet another aspect of Lewis’ style. The oldschool keyboard textures (Hammond B-3, Minimoog, Fender Rhodes)—not to mention an occasional flute flourish—hark back to the sounds of late-’70s L.A. jazz, which, besides underscoring Lewis’ 35-year tenure as a studio player in the SoCal area, makes New Vintage a very appropriate title for this album. New Folk. (AT) CD Review from Vintage Guitar Magazine
'09
New Vintage - If you know Kenny Lee Lewis only as Steve Miller’s co-guitarist, you’re in for a surprise with New Vintage. Dancing between funk and smooth jazz, the closest this disc gets to rock is a cover of the Average White Band’s “Pick Up the Pieces,” and even that is more jazz/funk. if you need proof Lewis has the chops, “Conquistador” gives it, alight funk with lovely changes that are the perfect bed for its ‘70s/George-Benson influence, And his lightening-fast runs mix with nice chorcLal work and carefully placed octaves, Cover tunes populate most of the record. Stevie Wonder’s “Creepin” shows Lewis & harmonic skills, while his take on “Valdez In the Country” is fairly standard, but again shows his skills. The record closes with “If! Only Had a Brain,” where he plays a gorgeous chord intro that gives way to the melody played in octaves. And when he solos, it’s imaginative and gorgeous. (JH) |