Jef Kearns is a flautist full-of-soul.
With the upcoming release of Jef Kearns' new single, he will prove to be a driving force in bringing the flute to the forefront of urban music.
Jef grew up listening to the urban music radio stations broadcasting out of Detroit, and even at the age of 10 was working on creating and transposing hip hop lines and verse into the rhythms of his flute, as well as learning R&B melodies. "I'd spend hours in my room playing along with a hip-hop station at the time 96.3fm," Jef confesses, "and when I wasn't playing I was listening intensely to what exactly was happening musically."
Jef went on to study at the prestigious jazz program at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario. During this time he played for two years in a Latin Jazz group led by Rick Lazar (voted percussionist of the year 1996 - 2000 by Jazz Beat Magazine). "Attending the Detroit Jazz Festival annually with my father inspired me to audition for the school."
His intense and unique style is largely influenced by vocalists, more than instrumentalists. "I consider what I am playing to be an extension of my voice. I am telling a story with each solo. Every musical phrase is a sentence, and every note is a word. I want people to come away from my performances feeling like they've been touched by an experience they can relate to ... for me it is all about the emotional connection."
Jef is the only instrumentalist listed on Honeysoul.com (a site ranked 20 OUT OF 198 million "soul music" searches on Google) alongside such giants as Jill Scott, Joe, Common and Dwele.
A testament to his strong crossover appeal, he has been pictured numerous times in Jazz Review.com, and The Live Music Report.com
He has shared the stage with Andrea Henry (Sugar Jones), Wade O Brown, Glenn Lewis, Chris Rouse, Juno award winner Carlos Morgan (Best R&B album), and Esthero.
For booking/contact please email
[email protected] with the subject line: booking.
