Accomplishments include entries in the Grammy Awards for 9 years in a row, features in Downbeat magazine, JazzReview, O'Place Jazz, Great Music Sites.com, Kweevak “Editor's Choice" & “Readers' Survey" awards for 5 years in a row, and many other independent music industry awards and honors. Heart Consort Music is celebrating 23 years in business this year, and has twenty CD releases. All of these releases have received national/international airplay and distribution. The group “James Kennedy & Friends" tours regularly in support of these releases both in the US and abroad.
HCM's Brand New 2009 release:
Q.E.D. by James Kennedy is the 20th CD release for Heart Consort Music. James Kennedy says, “In a way, Q.E.D. is the best of our past projects put together."The music covers a range of styles including Blues, Folk, Latin, Jazz, World music and more. James plays 6&12 string guitars, and is joined by Matt Alles on bass, Dan Brawner on hand percussion, Eric Madison on drum set, and Catherine Lawson on violin.
In 1986, Kennedy and Catherine Lawson founded recording label Heart Consort Music. In the intervening years, James has released 20 albums in a variety of styles, ranging from folk/acoustic to rock/fusion, jazz and world music, and more. These twenty releases have received international radio airplay, distribution and exposure. James has written music for various independent film and video projects, and his music has been licensed by, AEI, Bravo, Disney, The Discovery Channel, PBS, DMX, Playnetwork, and many others. He has performed at festivals all over the world including Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland; North Sea Jazz Festival, The Hague in The Netherlands; and the Euro-Disney Jazzfest in Paris, France. James Kennedy is an endorsed artist by the Guild Guitar Company and the Lakewood Guitar company.
