Lance Koonah
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Music
Press
"Lance Koonah Innerworkings is a young group who straddles the boundaries between mainstream tradition and more contemporary fusion influence. They combine sensitive musicianship with an unerring sense of group cohesiveness. Lance Koonah has the ability to compose tunes that all sound as if they could easily become standards, from ballads to fusion."
George Graham
Program Director for WVIA / WVYA
Scranton / Wilkes-Barre / Williamsport, PA - WVIA
"Lance Koonah and his band are fantastic! Their jazz set was the best musical event we had in the store all year! Customers (and staff) loved the live performance and their CD! I would be happy to have them back anytime!"
Cindy Reid
Community Relations Manager
Barnes & Noble Poughkeepsie, NY
- Barnes & Noble
"Saxophonist Lance Koonah has much to say. To my ears, he's searching for his own voice, using elements drawn from Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and possibly Clifford Jordan....he's always thoughtful and always searching."
Marc Meyers
Allaboutjazz.com - Allaboutjazz.com
"The songs bring a very relaxed George Benson to mind: the same airiness, mellow in temperament. Koonah himself is a very fluid player, sort of Grover Washington without the acrobatics. Standout track is "Smooth Walkin' " with it's samba groove."
Kevan Breitinger
BuddyHollywood.com - BuddyHollywood.com
"There are lots of cool vibes and a touch of smooth mixed in. "Smooth Imitation" gets the CD off to a wonderful start. Though the CD only contains 7 tracks, thus half a star taken away, it's professionally made and highly entertaining. Smooth Jazz fans will be thoroughly entertained and will ask for more. Recommended!"
Mike James
Smooth Jazz and More - Smooth Jazz and More
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Lance Koonah never imagined that by joining the military he would have the opportunity to travel around the country and perform at several jazz festivals, including the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference (IAJE), the Northern Colorado Jazz Festival, the Piedmont Jazz Festival, and the Auraia Jazz Celebration Festival. Nor would he have dreamed he would have an opportunity to share the stage with both Diana Krall's bass player and the musician who composed the perennial jazz classic "Killer Joe."
Most of all, Lance would never have thought he would compose his own music and release it on a CD that was put together by his own efforts. His most recent independent release, "The Things That Make Us Happy," is currently being featured on several internet radio stations including Smooth Jazz and More, Cruisenjazz WPMJ, Romance One Radio, and WCJZ World's Cool Jazz. One of the songs, "Smooth Imitation," has won several awards on GarageBand.com including a spotlight from winning the "Track of the Day" award. All of the original titles on his album are contemporary smooth jazz pieces that feature Lance on tenor saxophone and for the first time on soprano saxophone. His versatility on different instruments is partially due to his background.
Lance Koonah resides in New York City and is currently concentrating on popular songwriting and recording his new music.
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