All compositions by Kait Dunton, Real and Imagined Music (ASCAP) © and ℗ 2023 Kait Dunton
Produced by Kait Dunton
KAIT DUNTON piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer electronic piano, OB-6 analog synthesizer, Mellotron M4000D Mini, Yamaha Reface CP
SEAN HURLEY electric bass
JAKE REED drums, percussion
Recorded at EastWest Studios, Hollywood
Engineered by Wil Anspach
Mixed by Dave Way at the Waystation, Los Angeles Mastered by Dave McNair at Dave McNair Mastering
Photography and design by Peter Figen Photography
Additional photography by Charlie Weinmann
Title design by Jake Reed
R&I-008
1. Seventy-three (3:10)
2. Lunch Break (2:43)
3. Extended Warranty (2:51)
4. Connie’s In Charge (2:48)
5. Studio 3 (4:47)
6. The Lighthouse (3:29)
7. Headspace (3:46)
8. Mr. Old Skool (2:35)
9. Jay’s Blues (4:12)
10. DeLacey (3:43)
11. A Thousand Ways (3:09)
12. Three Day Weekend (3:04)
13. this one’s for you (1:30)
14. DeLacey (Super Dead Drums Remix) (2:43)
This album is a love letter to the sounds and instruments of ’70s jazz-funk. A celebration of vintage grooves and classic keyboards: the Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, Clavinet and - my first love - the acoustic piano. Keyboards documents the music I was writing and recording last year when my following on Instagram really exploded. The encouragement and support I received from all of you is what really propelled this music forward; I am so grateful and honored to be sharing this music with you now - the ultimate group project!
I’ve always been very excited and inspired by the grooves and sonic signature of Stuff (Richard Tee), Herbie Hancock, the Brecker Brothers, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Ahmad Jamal, to name a few. I just love to play funky, rhythmic parts on the keyboard. The piano is a percussion instrument, after all! Starting in January 2022, I started posting videos focusing on the Fender Rhodes and the different effects pedals I like to use with it. I would get inspired by a sound and create a groove or a short piece to showcase it, intentionally not writing anything too complex in order to keep the process of writing, recording, filming and editing a new video to a few hours or less (most of the time). I never imagined I would tap into such an appreciative and supportive audience so quickly, and am amazed now to see how it has grown.
Later that year, Jake suggested that I record a full album to document these sounds. Not only is Jake an amazing drummer and husband - he also has the best ideas! Jake and bassist Sean Hurley had been working together a lot recently, and I had the pleasure of working with Sean on a handful of projects, as well. Jake and Sean both have such a deep reverence for the groove and for supporting the song - and their lockup is incredible! I am so grateful for their artistry and support. We recorded everything live in the same room on September 5 + 6, 2022 in Studio 3 at EastWest Studios in Hollywood, CA.
An exciting bonus has been having incredible guitarist Andrew Synowiec join us for the live shows. Andrew adds so much sonic and rhythmic energy to the music. Playing with this band is a dream… I hope to make an album with the four of us next!
tour schedule:
JULY
Friday, July 28: Baked Potato - with Andrew Synowiec
AUGUST
Thursday, Aug 24: Jazzville Palm Springs
Friday, Aug 25: Baked Potato - with Andrew Synowiec
SEPTEMBER
Friday, Sep 15: The Grape in Ventura
Thursday, Sep 21: The Sound Room in Oakland
Friday, Sep 22: MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL - West End Stage, 4pm
Saturday, Sep 23: Libretto in Paso Robles
OCTOBER
Friday, October 6: Baked Potato - with Andrew Synowiec
About Kait:
Kait Dunton is an indie jazz-funk artist whose 7th album, KEYBOARDS, drops July 17. With KEYBOARDS, Kait is reintroducing herself as a solo artist after many years of performing as a trio, recording for film & TV, and working in academia.
A love letter to the sounds and instruments of ’70s jazz-funk, KEYBOARDS is a celebration of vintage grooves and classic keyboards, specifically the Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, and Clavinet. This album also represents an evolution in Kait’s sound and style—a focus more on timbre, groove, and interlocking rhythmic parts, and is a shift away from complex composition and arrangement prevalent in some of her past albums. KEYBOARDS will be released on vinyl and digital under her own label Real & Imagined Music.
Influenced by the work of Richard Tee, Ahmad Jamal, E.S.T., Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock, among others, Kait has evolved from an acoustic piano purist to a confident multi-keyboardist with her own groovy vintage sound which incorporates various styles outside the normal realm of “jazz,” including classical, pop, rock, R&B, soul, gospel, Brazilian, and Latin. As a keyboardist, composer, and songwriter, Kait’s genre-pushing original music has amassed an avid and engaged fanbase, including more than 130,000 Instagram followers, 15,000 TikTok followers, and nearly 37,000 monthly Spotify listeners.
Starting with her first album, REAL & IMAGINED-–now a fan favorite with over three million streams–-Kait has continued to cultivate her signature sound over many subsequent albums and releases, including her single, “this one’s for you.” Her music received 4.5 stars in DownBeat magazine, has reached top ten (twice!) on the Jazz Week radio charts, and has been heard on KCRW and KJazz.
“Dunton brings a Technicolor sensibility to everything she touches.” – DownBeat
“Thrilling and original.” – PopMatters
Kait’s latest venture as a solo artist was fueled by the enthusiastic response of her fans this past year inspiring a period of artistic and personal growth. With her evocative improvisational style and emotive music expression, Kait exudes joy as a performer which her audience absorbs like little pieces of magic. Kait’s music lays bare who she is as an artist. Fans are captivated by the different forces that emerge from her music–its unexpected rhythms and chord progressions, unconventional compositions, and stories with personal meaning—leaving comments about how moved they are by her performance, and how happy her music makes them feel.
Kait says: “Playing with honest emotion and expression is the only way I know how to do it, and I like to think that this invites others to experience it with me, to be vulnerable along with me, or to just be happy and have fun!”
Surprisingly, it’s been a 20-year journey to fully embrace that she shouldn’t bother with anything else but creating and performing music. Her first voice of encouragement to pursue music as a career came from John D’earth, her music mentor at her undergraduate alma mater the University of Virginia. And even as a member of Grammy-winning jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy in its formative years, Kait was still cautious about pursuing life as a full-time artist.
Her artistic awakening would come much later after an academic pursuit resulting in a master's degree in Jazz Piano from the University of North Texas College of Music (UNT) and a DMA at the USC Thornton School of Music.
It was during her UNT program that Kait joined Snarky Puppy appearing on their sophomore record, The World is Getting Smaller. After graduating, Kait left the band and returned home to Pasadena to take a corporate job in music marketing but soon realized this was not her calling. Drawn to academia, Kait started her doctoral work at USC Thornton where she met her future husband and music collaborator drummer Jake Reed.
Realizing music is an essential part of her life and fundamental to who she is, Kait has been solely focused on playing, performing, improvising, and composing music professionally for the past decade. She records often for film, television, and other artists. Her playing appears extensively in the Mister Rogers movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, as well as in The Lego Movie 2, Downsizing, Empire, and ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live! In addition, Kait has taught at the University of North Texas, USC's Thornton School of Music, Musician's Institute, Chaffey College, and most recently at Los Angeles College of Music (LACM) in Pasadena, where she developed their new Piano Performance program and served as the inaugural chair.
Kait will tour KEYBOARDS at a variety of venerated venues, including:
7/28, 8/25 & 10/6: Baked Potato
8/24: Jazzville Palm Springs
9/15: The Grape (Ventura)
9/21: The Sound Room (Oakland)
9/22: Monterey Jazz Festival
9/23: Libretto (Paso Robles)
Kait’s tour band was formed out of family & friendship and a shared history of performing together over several years. Joining Kait on stage will be Andrew Synowiec on guitars, Sean Hurley on bass, and Jake Reed on drums.
Kait resides with her husband Jake and their young daughter in South Pasadena, CA, playing and recording out of their home studios, which feature many vintage and classic electronic keyboards, synthesizers, organs, and the heart and soul of the space, Kait’s beloved Yamaha C5 piano she’s had her entire life.
JAZZ KEYBOARDIST & COMPOSER KAIT DUNTON DEBUTS ‘70s INSPIRED 7TH ALBUM, ‘KEYBOARDS’
New Release Celebrates Classic Jazz-Funk Grooves and Timbres and Re-Introduces Dunton as a Solo Artist
Dunton Will Tour ‘Keyboards’ at a Variety of Venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival in September
LOS ANGELES, CA – June 27, 2023 -- Indie Jazz Keyboardist/ Composer Kait Dunton is excited to announce the release of her 7th album, Keyboards, available July 17, 2023, as a digital download on all major music streaming services.
For presales, including Keyboards on vinyl, please visit HERE.
Released under Dunton’s own label Real & Imagined Music and recorded at East West Studios in Hollywood, the album is a love letter to the sounds and instruments of ’70s jazz-funk, a celebration of vintage grooves and classic keyboards, specifically the Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, and Clavinet.
Keyboards features 14 tracks that represent an evolution in Dunton’s sound and style—a focus more on timbre, groove, and interlocking rhythmic parts, and a shift away from complex composition and arrangement prevalent in some of her past albums.
As indicated by Dunton's booming fan base of more than 130,000 Instagram followers,15,000 TikTok followers, and nearly 37,000 monthly Spotify listeners, this new studio work will appeal to a broad pool of listeners who enjoy groovy vintage sounds. Fans of Vulfpeck, Scary Pockets, Stuff, Richard Tee, and Herbie Hancock will enjoy the music on Keyboards. Keyboards’ lead single “Lunchbreak” offers a great representation of the album’s homage to the sonic landscape of the ‘70s, with its influences from jazz, funk, gospel & soul.
“Dunton brings a Technicolor sensibility to everything she touches.” – DownBeat
This latest venture as a solo artist was fueled by the enthusiastic response of her fans this past year inspiring a period of artistic and personal growth. With her evocative improvisational style and emotive music expression, Dunton exudes joy as a performer which her audience absorbs like little pieces of magic. Dunton’s music lays bare who she is as an artist. Fans are captivated by the different forces that emerge from her music–its unexpected rhythms and chord progressions, unconventional compositions, and stories with personal meaning—compelling them to leave comments about how moved they are by her performance, and how happy her music makes them feel.
Dunton says: “Playing with honest emotion and expression is the only way I know how to do it, and I like to think that this invites others to experience it with me, to be vulnerable along with me, or to just be happy and have fun!”
Keyboards was mixed by Dave Way at the Waystation, Los Angeles; mastered by Dave McNair at Dave McNair Mastering; and engineered by Wil Anspach.
Keyboards features Kait Dunton on piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer electronic piano, OB-6 analog synthesizer, Mellotron M4000D Mini, & Yamaha Reface CP; Sean Hurley on electric bass; and Jake Reed on drums and percussion.
TOUR INFORMATION
Keyboards will tour at a variety of venerated venues, including:
7/28, 8/25 & 10/6: Baked Potato
8/24: Jazzville Palm Springs
9/15: The Grape (Ventura)
9/21: The Sound Room (Oakland)
9/22: Monterey Jazz Festival
9/23: Libretto (Paso Robles)
`
Dunton’s tour band was formed out of family & friendship and a shared history of performing together over several years. Joining Dunton on stage will be Andrew Synowiec on guitars, Sean Hurley on bass, and Jake Reed on drums.
-END-
About Kait Dunton
Kait Dunton is a Los Angeles-based indie Jazz Keyboardist/Composer whose 7th album, KEYBOARDS, reintroduces her as a solo artist after many years of performing as a trio, recording for film & TV, and working in academia.
Influenced by the work of Richard Tee, Ahmad Jamal, E.S.T., Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock, among others, Kait has evolved from an acoustic piano purist to a confident multi-keyboardist with her own groovy vintage sound which incorporates various styles outside the normal realm of “jazz,” including classical, pop, rock, R&B, soul, gospel, Brazilian, and Latin. As a keyboardist, composer, and songwriter, Kait’s genre-pushing original music has amassed an avid and engaged fanbase, including more than 130,000 Instagram followers, 15,000 TikTok followers, and nearly 37,000 monthly Spotify listeners.
Starting with her first album, REAL & IMAGINED-–now a fan favorite with over three million streams–-Kait has continued to cultivate her signature sound over many subsequent albums and releases, including her single, “this one’s for you.” Her music received 4.5 stars in Down Beat magazine, has reached top ten (twice!) on the Jazz Week radio charts, and has been heard on KCRW and KJazz.
Kait has been solely focused on playing, performing, improvising, and composing music professionally for the past decade. A former member of Snarky Puppy in its formative years, Kait records often for film, television, and other artists. Her playing appears extensively in the Mister Rogers movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, as well as in The Lego Movie 2, Downsizing, Empire, and ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live! In addition, Kait has taught at the University of North Texas, USC's Thornton School of Music, Musician's Institute, Chaffey College, and most recently at Los Angeles College of Music (LACM) in Pasadena, where she developed their new Piano Performance program and served as the inaugural chair.
Kait resides with her husband Jake and their young daughter in South Pasadena, CA, playing and recording out of their home studios, which feature many vintage and classic electronic keyboards, synthesizers, organs, and the heart and soul of the space, Kait’s beloved Yamaha C5 piano she’s had her entire life.
PRESS CONTACT:
ARC•PR
Ariel Carpenter
ariel.carpenter@icloud,com
213-248-1827
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