Kevin Valentine

KEVIN VALENTINE
Tel/Fax: 215-765-4995
Website: www.kevalmusic.com
www.myspace.com/thekevinvalentine
Email: kvalentine@kevalcomusic.com
“In a genre where male jazz vocalists of substance are rare, Kevin Valentine is the real thing. He is a performer who swings hard on a standard and yet has the sensitivity to nurture a ballad.” – Mike Boone
Possessing an easy, effortless style that swings, Kevin’s treatment of standards conveys an understanding for the culmination of melody, rhythm and lyric. While he loves standards, he does not think that they should be held in such esteem that they cannot grow and evolve. “Standards are not defined as being written between 1910 and 1950, they were just the pop songs of that day. Rodgers and Hart wrote standards but so did Linda Creed and Thom Bell. Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder and Sting all composed standards. Their pieces will be played 50 years from now and still sound fresh.” Kevin says that his pursuit as an artist is to “find those tunes and be a part of the presentation that paints the picture with new colors”. Check out his work on Lennon and McCartney’s “Money Can’t Buy Me Love”.
Music and singing especially, have always been an integral part of his life and as he says, “I can’t remember any phase of my life when I wasn’t singing, I still remember my third grade rendition of “Moon River” at P.S. 111 in the Bronx, New York.” Kevin’s jazz education started in a way that many younger generation musicians pick up the love; through his parents. “I grew up in a small apartment where the television and the record player were in the living room. If I wanted to watch TV and my parents wanted to listen to Johnny Hartman or Errol Garner, guess who won.” Sooner or later though, the benefits of his parents’ musical taste made their way into his head even though that taste had to share space with the Ohio Players, Sly and the Family Stone and Tower of Power.
Growing up in the New York City presented Kevin with a wide array of musical opportunities and challenges. He met future bassist Mike Boone when both were early member of the Boys Choir of Harlem. During a 2 year drama stint with a Harlem theater company he worked with a young Tupac Shakur. Kevin has done the requisite “Amateur Night at the Apollo” and performed at New York City clubs such as “Sweetwater’s” and the “West End”. With the exception of the Apollo Theater, he played these venues working with an R&B vocal trio that covered R&B hits. It was challenging because, “while R&B covers are supposed to sound just like the record, I was always more interested in bending notes and shifting phrasings to the way I heard them in my head. I was still evolving.”
After completing law school in Philadelphia, Kevin was free to let his jazz roots take hold and he began to soak up the rich jazz culture. He has performed with his own trio at Zanzibar Blue, the Pyramid Club, Illuminarie, Rembrandt’s as well as the Philadelphia’s Art Museum. He is often a guest vocalist at the Four Season’s and Loew’s Solefood Restaurant. Kevin loves the impromptu nature of jam sessions and can often be heard at Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus, La Rose and Chris’ Jazz Café (“Where else can you just show up and play with the likes of Byron Landham, Tom Lawton or Butch Ballard of Basie fame”). He will occasionally show up at L2’s or Chris’s Jazz Cafe where Mary Ellen Desmond, Ms. Justine or Victor North will invite him to perform tunes during the set.
Do yourself a favor, catch this guy soon because he is the real thing.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Apollo Theater Amateur Night Competition - New York City (Finalist)
• Sweetwater’s – New York City
• West End Cafe – New York City
• Rembrandt’s Restaurant & Bar Philadelphia
• Pyramid Club w Trio- Philadelphia
• Ortilieb’s JazzHaus with Trio- Philadelphia
• Zanzibar Blue Jazz Club & Restaurant w Trio-Philadelphia
• Illuminarie Italian Restaurant w Trio-Philadelphia
• Abbracio Restaurant w Guitar-Philadelphia
• Four Season’s Hotel w Trio- Philadelphia
• Loew’s Hotel Solefood Restaurant w Trio Philadelphia
• Nodding Head Brewery w Victor North Trio-Philadelphia
• Rittenhouse Square Spring Arts Festival w Trio-Philadelphia
• Jazz on the Avenue w Trio –Cecil B. Moore Jazz Festival 2006 & 2007
• Fairmount Arts Crawl-Philadelphia w Guitar 2007-2009
• The Salon w Trio-Philadelhpia
• Performs at private parties and other venues
Performance Profile with Listed Musicians
Keyboards:
Fareed Barron, Rich Budesa, Orrin Evans, Aaron Graves, Jim Holton, Marc Kaplan, Tom Lawton, Gary Moran, Luke O’Reilly, Barry Sames, Bill Schilling, Sid Simmons, Don Wilson, Anthony Wonsey
Bassists:
Mike Boone, Leon Boykins, Bob Campbell, Madison Rast, Lee Smith
Guitarists:
Rob Budesa, Matt Davis, Wes Norton, Gerald “Twig” Smith
Drums:
Butch Ballard, Lucian Dowdel, Justin Faulkner, Wilby Flectcher, Rob Henderson,
Eddie Jones, Doug Hirlinger, Byron Landham, Butch Reed, Mickey Roker, Lucky Thompson
Reeds:
Victor