Like a lot of her fellow students at Cal State Long Beach, Shannon Kennedy is eagerly looking forward to graduating this spring with her Bachelor’s in Music Performance. But even as she considers her options for grad school, the 21-year-old, Orange County, California based musical dynamo is caught up in an exciting whirlwind mode, developing one of contemporary music’s most extraordinarily multi-faceted careers as a composer, producer, performer, independent recording artist and music instructor.

Best known to audiences throughout Southern California as a powerhouse saxophonist, the wildly ambitious multi-talented musician has added numerous instruments to her palette,
including piano, pennywhistle and even Native American flute. On her upcoming fifth self-produced recording Behind Your Eyes, Shannon is also stepping out more than ever before as a compelling lead vocalist.

Since performing on the 2007 Brian Culbertson All-Star Cruise with some of urban jazz’s best known performers—including Culbertson, Craig Chaquico, Boney James, Candy Dulfer, Eric Darius, Nick Colionne, Michael Lington and Gerald Albright—Shannon has become a major presence in the genre. She has played a key role as a featured saxophonist and member of the horn section on tour with Peter White throughout California and Nevada and also played with him at his show following the 2008 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards in Ontario. She will also appear on the acoustic guitar superstar’s upcoming debut on Peak Records. Last February, she performed with Chaquico at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

White and veteran saxman Greg Vail made guest appearances on her popular 2007 release Never My Love, and her 2008 holiday themed CD Almost That Time of the Year features White, Colionne, trumpet great Greg Adams and famed Special EFX guitarist Chieli Minucci. Even before the official release of Almost That Time..., the project’s high spirited title track was receiving airplay on the O.C. college jazz station KSBR, the rock station 101.3 KATY in Temecula and on Power 88 (KCEP 88.1), the big urban station in Las Vegas.

Her expansion into the rock and urban markets with this breakthrough vocal tune builds on her enormous popularity in the jazz world via live solo performances at hotspots like Antonucci’s in Mission Viejo and the Temecula club The Merc, where she plays straight-ahead jazz. She also has played venues like Anaheim’s House of Blues with the popular O.C. based Sade tribute band Taboo, with whom she also shot a TV pilot. While showcasing her talents on all four saxes (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) and flute, her early 2007 album Steppin’ Up hinted at all of the diversity to come, with forays into pop, blues, funk, gospel, old school pop-soul and even more exotic influences like calypso, tango and bossa nova. She’s developed her world music chops further by doing workshops and playing with the Southern California based flamenco-global fusion band Incendio.

“I never get tired of traveling and playing music for people in various settings,” Shannon says. “Nothing is more fun than going on tour. When I was 15, I went to an arts high school and we did shows all around the country… Still, as much as I enjoy performing onstage and with different artists and groups, my first love is the studio. I love writing, recording and putting songs together. I get seriously depressed when I’m away from that environment too long. It all goes back to my deep love of the creative process.”

While continuing to developing her career as a solo artist and performer, she is also busy working on numerous extracurricular activities, writing and producing with pop/rock artists like emerging singer songwriter Tony Clements and writing and performing soundtrack and pop/contemporary music on her favorite new instrument, the piano.

Like so many great jazz musicians, Shannon is also giving back by becoming a well known and top notch educator in her own right. She has performed and taught students at Blythe High School (near the California/Arizona border), Newhart Middle School in Mission Viejo and Serrano Intermediate School in Lake Forest, where she imparted her skills on sax, flute and oboe. “I don’t see teaching as just a way to make extra money while I pursue my other endeavors,” Shannon says. “I genuinely enjoy working with kids, and I see so much of myself in them. It’s fun teaching them!” Shannon also designs and hosts teenjazz.com, the world’s largest website for young musicians.

Growing up in Southern Orange County, Shannon Kennedy gravitated to the pop sounds of everyone from Tracy Chapman and Jewel to Donna Lewis and Duran Duran while trying out a variety of different instruments. At six, she picked up her first acoustic guitar and aspired to be the next Chapman or Jewel, then later, encouraged by her grandmother, started playing the piano. Kennedy also did backup vocals for local and school musical theatre presentations, and was leading the vocal choir by age 11 at her uncle’s church in San Diego. While always supportive, her parents Dave and Sherry were somewhat musically challenged, and early on, she says, they didn’t teach her the difference between trumpet and flute. So in sixth grade, when her band teacher asked the class to write down the instrument she wanted to play, she wrote “flute,” fully expecting to be handed a trumpet. Disappointed, her first inclination was to play the flute backward, and she can still do that effortlessly to this day!

When she got to high school, she still had her heart on playing the trumpet, but her local music store didn’t have any for sale; instead, she picked up the sax, took immediately to it and took over the first chair in the jazz band. Because her school was oriented towards the arts, her teachers were able to connect her and many of her bandmates to numerous paying gigs throughout Orange County, from restaurants and concerts to mall openings and Christmas shows as part of a big band or small combos. She did her first outside paying gig at a party in Malibu where Olivia Newton-John was a host.

She released her first album, Angel Eyes, a few months after graduating high school in 2005; the album features an assorted mix of music from different genres recorded live in two days with many of her student friends. A Rheuben Allen endorsee and Rico (reeds) Junior Artist, she also has endorsements with the Beechler mouthpiece company and the oboe reed company Marca.

“These past few years,” she says, “as I’ve entered my twenties and have further developed my abilities as a composer, singer, producer and saxophonist, I feel like I’m finally beyond the whole ‘child prodigy’ tag, which means freedom from certain expectations but also the start of a lot of new ones. It’s great when major artists like Peter White, Nick Colionne and Chieli Minucci can see me as a young adult with something substantial to offer, and I’m excited that people in the music business are taking me more seriously as a player and musician. Everyone has certain expectations, and I am always able to exceed those by 500 percent. A lot of female musicians lose their identity trying to establish themselves, but I have a much clearer picture of who I am and where I’m going. It’s exciting for me to have people pay me to do something I love this much. My goal is just to keep performing for more and more people and grow as a writer, producer and artist. I’m happy as long as I’m able to play."

More About Shannon Kennedy?

Shannon Kennedy is a young female saxophonist playing in the smooth jazz, contemporary music, instrumental pop, traditional jazz and gospel music styles. She is a Rheuben Allen sax artist and Rico Junior Artist in Southern California playing soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet, and occasionally oboe. As said by Bijon Watson, the music director at OCHSA where Shannon attended high school, "Shannon Kennedy is a vital member of every ensemble that she participates in. She demonstrates great proficiency no matter what genre of music she is called upon to play..."

Performing regularly in venues in the Orange County, San Diego, and Los Angeles areas, Shannon is quickly gaining recognition as an up and coming saxophonist. In the words of Sax Talk’s Rex Djere, “Shannon Kennedy is a very talented young saxophonist who is taking the music world by storm. A native of Southern California, Kennedy’s musical rise has made her a force to be reckoned with.” She performs and shares the role as a leader in a blues band, performs with her own jazz quartet, and records in various music styles regularly.

“Angel Eyes”, Shannon Kennedy’s debut album, was released only a few months after her high school graduation in the summer of 2005. The album features an assorted mix of music from different genres recorded live in two days featuring Shannon’s abilities on flute, soprano and alto saxophones.

The release of her second album, "Steppin Up", January 20, 2007,featured her skills as a performer, arranger, composer, producer, and graphic designer. "Steppin Up" features Shannon on flute, clarinet, acoustic guitar, keyboards, soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, and bari sax. The CD also features several guest artists including Peter White and Kirk Whalum.

Shannon Kennedy began performing as a professional saxophonist at the age of fifteen, only one year after she began playing saxophone. Since, she has performed with artists including Justo Almario, Rob Mullins, Carmen Bradford, Eric Marienthal, Greg Vail, Bill Cunliffe, Nils, Jeff Kashiwa, and Michael Paulo, etc. Dubbed the female smooth jazz saxophonist of the next generation by many, Shannon Kennedy looks forward to a career in saxophone performance. “[Shannon Kennedy] has a quick wit, a keen philosophical mind, and I have NO doubt that she will not only be a great saxophonist...Shannon Kennedy has the rare combination of killer chops and a killer sound...Shannon Kennedy is an amazing talent..." – Rex Djere, Sax Talk

Why Shannon began playing music:

"Shannon Kennedy has always enjoyed music of every genre and style. Shannon first began music at the age of four singing in choirs, participating in theater programs, and vocal classes. Initially inspired by singer/songwriters such as Jewel, Tracy Chapman, and Donna Lewis, Shannon Kennedy picked up the guitar at the age of six and towed her half-size acoustic guitar everywhere from school to the beach (it still has sand in it to this day).

When Shannon began junior high, she was given the option to continue with theater or quit and join the school band - so for variation, she began playing the flute (quite by accident, Shannon really wanted to play the trumpet) and joined the school band. She began studying with Mark Petrash and Michael Mekata who encouraged her and pushed her to do her best. Shannon spent all her time in a practice room and began experimenting with composition on the piano - writing her first compositions at the age of 12 (they were flute solos with piano accompaniment). However, Shannon Kennedy's real interest was in the jazz band - which she was not allowed to perform in because flute was not a "jazz instrument". Despite this discouragement, Shannon still sat in at all the rehearsals transposing either the sax or trumpet parts on flute.

When Shannon Kennedy began high school, she began to learn the alto saxophone and immediately joined one of the school's jazz combos, but was still focused on studying classical flute (and oboe which she had also begun studying). It wasn't until a concert she attended where Greg Vail was performing that she truly began to appreciate jazz and knew that it was what she wanted to do.

Shannon Kennedy's musical influences:

Some of Shannon's influences include:
Soprano Saxophone - Greg Vail, David Liebman, Kenny Garrett
Alto Saxophone - Gerald Albright, Kenny Garrett, Mindi Abair, Vincent Herring, Cannonball, Chris Potter, Dan Higgins, Candy Dulfer
Tenor Saxophone - Kirk Whalum, Greg Vail, Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Bob Mintzer
Bari Sax - Ronnie Cuber
Flute - Danilo Lozano, James Galway
Clarinet - Brecker and Mintzer
Everything Else - Kurt Elling, Diane Schuur, Kevin Whalum, Bread, Steely Dan, the James Taylor, Peter White, Nick Colionne, Richard Bona and many more

Shannon and Dave Kennedy's Reed Case Company:

KenKase Reed Cases started out just making reed cases for Shannon Kennedy and her saxophone playing friends because a decent reed case from a music store was ridiculously high-priced. However, as more people got their hands on KenKase Reed Cases, people began asking Shannon Kennedy and her father, Dave Kennedy to distribute the cases - which on a small scale, they did. KenKase makes exotic hardwood reed cases and colorful acrylic or enamel cases for alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bari sax, clarinet, and bass clarinet to hold 5 reeds or 10 reeds.


About Shannon Kennedy's Band:

Shannon Kennedy - Vocals/Sax/Flute
John Gregorius/Drew Simpson - Electric Guitar
Tony Clements - Acoustic Guitar/Vocals
Thomas Drayton - Bass
Kurt Hamernick - Drums
Keith Smith - Keys/Trumpet