Californian Music

By Holly Herndon - For The Californian | Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:35 AM PDT ∞

Jazz saxophonist Shannon Kennedy is overwhelming audiences in night clubs all over the state and she isn't even old enough to drink alcohol.

The 19-year-old musical sensation brings her youthful exuberance to Old Town Temecula tonight as the popular Jazz at the Merc concert series features the Shannon Kennedy Quartet.

Kennedy's passion for music was sparked in grade school when she decided to turn her attention from theater to instrumental music; namely the trumpet. Unfortunately, having no musicians in her family, she filled out her application for the school program, referring to the trumpet as the flute. A flute is what the school system ordered for her and she begrudgingly played the instrument for a number of years.

When she began high school, Kennedy was determined to join the school's jazz band where a flute has no place. Finally, it was her opportunity to play the trumpet. But, as fate would have it, the music store had no trumpets available and, for a second time, Kennedy had to compromise. Lucky for her audience, there was a saxophone in stock. She picked it up and mastered it in just a day and the rest is history.

Balancing a normal adolescent life and a professional music career presents many challenges for Kennedy. A junior and music major at Cal State Long Beach, Kennedy is faced with daily adversity as teachers and students have trouble dealing with her early success and she is constantly ridiculed and judged. Despite the discrimination, Kennedy is able to grow from her experiences.

"There is a difference between good competition and bad competition," she said. "There is the kind of competition where you build people up and there is the kind of competition where you just tear apart anyone in your path. I prefer to be the more healthy competitive. If people are successful, that's going to push me to work even harder."

And work hard she does. A professional saxophonist since the age of 15, she has experienced a lifetime of achievements in only four short years. She can regularly be seen selling out venues all over Southern California, has released two albums, and spends time composing and producing the music she performs.

In addition to taking the stage, Kennedy enjoys educating the younger generation about the music she loves. She spends time teaching music programs at local junior highs and writes a monthly article for a high school magazine.

"When the kids see it is something they can do, they tend to be more excited about it," she said.

For Thursday's show at the Merc, Kennedy will be joined by Joshua Crumbley, another teenage musical phenom on bass, Lamont Peoples on drums, a her long time guitarist and friend, Drew Simpson.

"Drew helps me lead my band," she said. "It's sometimes hard to get people to listen to me because I'm a kid so he helps me keep people under control which I appreciate."

The quartet will be focusing on the more classical style of jazz, known as straight-head jazz. Although she does play both genres, Kennedy is very careful to point out the difference between straight-ahead jazz and the more contemporary style, known as smooth jazz.

"All smooth jazz is really just pop but since it's instrumental, it's not vocal, they call it smooth jazz even though it has nothing to do with jazz," she said. "For someone like me who plays both types of music, when I play pop obviously some of my jazz influences come into play."

Those jazz influences include Kurt Elling, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker.

For Kennedy, most of her life has been about proving to skeptics that a young girl can hold her own in the professional jazz community and proven to them she has.

"Pretty much everyone is shocked to see how young I am," she said. "My favorite thing is when someone sees me and are like, 'Uh, um ...'and then they are impressed with me by the end of it. I love that."

The Shannon Kennedy Quartet

When: 7:30 p.m. March 27

Where: The Merc, Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main St., Temecula

Tickets: $15

Info: (866) 653-8696

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.