|
[Featured
Artist]
Ken
Navarro
Recognized
as one of today's leading Contemporary Jazz
guitarists, Ken Navarro's impressive discography of
top charting albums showcase his appeal to a wide
range of listeners with inspiring compositions and
superb guitar performances. |
 |
Ken Navarro's newest
album, "In My Wildest Dreams", was release on May 4, 1999. His 1998 live CD and
Video, "Ablaze in Orlando", has been
acclaimed as one of the best live jazz CDs of the decade. "Smooth
Sensation", released in 1997, was in the Top
10 of Radio & Records' Smooth Jazz chart for 12 weeks,
helping to make the CD the #17 Smooth Jazz album of 1997!
Other recent releases from Ken Navarro include his 1996
album, When Night Calls, featuring Eric
Marienthal on saxophone, and Christmas Cheer, a
holiday album of contemporary jazz guitar and acoustic
piano duets.
Ken's 1995 album, Brighter
Days, was voted the #9 album of the year by Smooth
Jazz radio. Brighter Days heralded a bold step
forward for Ken, bringing to the forefront the strong R
& B elements that have always been a part of his
music, and enlisting a powerhouse of support from featured
solo artists including former Rippingtons sax man Brandon
Fields. Brighter Days reached the national radio top 5 and
held a position in the top 20 for six months in 1995. His
1991 release, After Dark, was selected for screening by
the 1991 GRAMMY nominating committee. His successive
albums, The Labor of Love(1992), I Can't Complain(1993),
and Pride and Joy (1994), all reached the top 5 in
national radio, firmly establishing Ken Navarro as a
mainstay on Smooth Jazz radio play lists.
Ken began his recording
career in Los Angeles as a premier session guitarist,
performer and composer, performing and recording with
artists as diverse as Doc Severinsen, Nell
Carter, John Pattitucci, Dave Koz And Gregg
Karukas. In 1990, Ken established his own musical
identity with the release of his debut album, The River
Flows. With each successive album, Ken has received
increasing acclaim and recognition as a leading stylist in
Contemporary Jazz.
Ken maintains an active
schedule of concert appearances as part of his quartet,
the Ken Navarro Group. Highlights of his tour schedule
have included appearances at the World Trade Center in New
York, the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Washington, D.C.,
Merriweather Post Pavilion in MD, Jacksonville Jazz Fest,
Clearwater Jazz Holiday, the Pleasure Island Jazz Fest,
the Venetian Festival, the Winter Park Arts Festival, and
concerts where the group shared the stage with artists
such as The Rippingtons, Joe Sample, Jean
Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke/Larry Carlton, George
Howard, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Fattburger,
Marion Meadows, Keiko Matsui, Nelson
Rangell, David Benoit, Alex Bugnon and Boney
James.
Ken's contribution to
Contemporary and Mainstream Jazz goes beyond his personal
artistry. As founder of Positive Music Records, Ken
is responsible for launching and furthering the recording
careers of saxophonist Brandon Fields, guitarists Grant
Geissman, Thom Rotella and Pat Kelley,
and keyboardists Gregg Karukas and Marcus
Johnson. Ken handles all of the A&R for Positive
Music and is actively involved as a producer on many of
the label's albums. Ken's vision of a musician's record
label has enhanced the genre with over 35 new artists and
over sixty releases in nine short years. |
