Kenery Kent Smith

Solid...Deeply Soulful...Creative...Tasteful.
These words do more than just describe the musicality of Kenery Kent Smith’s bass playing. They also describe the man behind the music.
Kenery’s professional career has taken him all over the world, allowing him to work with artists and musical styles ranging from the sultry R&B vocals of Mikki Howard, to the acid jazz grooves of Liquid Soul. He has performed nationally with Jackie Taylor’s Black Ensemble Theater and Chicago’s Free Street Theater, and internationally with the inspirational voices of Sue Conway and The Victory Singers, and with Pierre Walker & Project: Sanctified. Kenery has also worked in many other diverse musical settings, highlighting his versatility as an artist; whether it’s performing with comedian Bernie Mac and his Mac Men Band, playing old school pocket for soul vocal legend Freda Payne, or laying down the solid low end grooves during live performances with such bass solo giants as Bill “Buddha” Dickens and T.M. Stevens. Kenery has also shown his musical flexibility by filling the bass guitar chair in the Neo-Soul arena, giving slightly laid-back pocket to soul diva and former Erikah Badu vocalist Yazarah, grooving hard with R&B group Silk’s former lead vocalist Gary “Little G” Jenkins, and funkifying the NuFunk live shows of Motown recording artist Lathun, and Grammy Award winning songwriter/vocalist Gordon Chambers. He has also filled the bass chair in the ensemble that creates the musical canvas for one of the premier dance troupes in the country, M.A.D.D. Rhythms.
Having also recorded on projects for such unsung talents as international jazz songbird Dee Alexander, Liquid Soul and Lenny Kravitz trumpeter Ron Haynes, and for newly emerging artists such as local pop jazz sensation MariAnne Jayne, and R&B and NeoSoul vocalist Kevin Chandler, Kenery brings his solid bass lines and tasty feel to a broader audience. And on his group Detour JazFunk's debut CD entitled JazFunk, Kenery adds writing and production chops to his repertoire of musical abilities, giving him to opportunity to explore and develop his personal compositional voice.
Most recently, Kenery has appeared in, and written several songs for the soundtrack of the Indie film "The Rise and Fall of Miss Thang". And in the meantime, he continues to spin the melodically pocket low-end grooves that has helped to make him one of Chicago’s most respected and requested bass guitar groove makers.