Hello friends-
Out of respect for the recent change in the bbs for posting news on new releases, thought I'd start a new thread here on Ken's latest CD.

It has a name now, The Grace of Summer Light.
It has all the additional musicians recorded; Joel Rosenblatt, Tom Kennedy, Jay Rowe, and percussionist Kevin Prince.

According to his diary, Ken is in the process of re-recording all the guitar parts, which I can imagine is quite a task, based on the sophistication of the sample track he gave to us.

I'm really looking forward to it, and it sounds like Ken is really stoked now that everyone else has done their parts....that will probably inspire even more out of him.

Here's a link to his diary, and "the making of" page, and of course the link to the sample full length musician's demo tune. It only gets better from there, I'm sure, and this is a pretty polished tune for a demo. Anyway.....

Ken\'s new cd page

Don't forget to read his interview with Shannon at smoothviews, Shannon\'s interview of Ken Feb 08 there is also a link there to the same tune.

I know we are going to love this one....maybe Ken will toss us another bone, after he gets into the mixdown stage of production.

Later
Tony Y

I pre-ordered the CD on Ken's website a couple of weeks ago. I can't wait to hear the finished product.

Hi all - man, it's been awhile since I visited the island - a lot of very nice changes. It looks really great!

The new CD if finished! I have been working 16 hour days for as long as I can remember. This CD was worth every minute of my time and all I can say is wait till you hear this! This album and this new music of mine is what happens when you spend a lifetime pursuing a goal and I wanted every single note to be right.

Ken, that's great news... when will it be released? Is it still around May 1st?

See you in a couple of weeks.... please ask Chieli to indulge in a little bit of Elizabeth Reed during the sound check.... you know how I never get to stay in the room during the show. It will make me smile to hear the 2 of you together....

Thanks Kat - and I will be sure to brush up on my guitar part for "Elizabeth Reed" before the April 26 show with Chieli, Jay, Joyce, Eric, Kim and all!

"The Grace of Summer Light" CD will be released at national retail on June 17 as well as at all the online sites like amazon, itunes etc.

I also made a special arrangement with our national distributor which allows me to release it exclusively at my website (www.kennavarro.com) on May 4. In fact, it has been available for pre-ordering for a few months now and many folks have already placed their order.

Thanks for asking and it will be very good to see you again.

Ken

Ken-
Just did the pre-order, looking forward to hearing this one....

While you're at it....could somebody PLEASE record/video cam or something, the ensemble playing Elizabeth Reed? I'd pay money for that too always has been a favorite tune and I'm sure you and Chieli will tear it up! PLEASE?

Yes, this is me begging.....

Glad you're "over the hump" on this now Ken, you can take a well deserved break.

By the way, any chance of the studio band being the touring one, and have plans begun on that aspect of promoting this CD? This could be a great chance to do a DVD too....I'm just full of ideas for ya, huh?

Later
TonyY

there is a lot of -ahem- unauthorized footage of Smooth Jazz For Scholars .... on Youtube... when the videos finish, just click thru to see the submitter's other videos.

sample: hocus pocus

I found myself going to Nelson Rangell's solos on "The Challenge" and "Guitarzzz." I'm bringing my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 and tripod to SJFS. These videos tempted me to bring my camcorder, but I won't. I'll be a good boy (so to speak) and stick to stills.
Anyway, congrats on completing the CD, Ken. I can't wait to hear and for that matter can't wait to see you at this year's SJFS.
I'll continue my SJFS discussion to my SJFS thread.

Yeah...congrats, Ken! I am glad, that you are satisfied with the new CD and I am looking forward to its release.

Greetings from Germany

Just wanted to say Thank You for the congrats and also to Tony and Mike and the hundreds of other folks who have already pre-orderd the new CD at my website. It has meant a lot to me as I labored away on this new music. And see you next weekend Mike and Kat! (Mike, I may be able to hand deliver your "The Grace of Summer Light" CD to you when I see you at the April 26 show in CT)