Turning 40 doesn’t have the big-deal, inflection-point significance of milestone birthdays like 21 or 65, but don’t try that argument on Bryan Kennard. The composer, flutist and organizer has plenty of highlights to mark as he heads into his fifth decade this week with a new big band and a celebratory concert at BOP STOP Sunday.
In the last four years, Kennard finished his doctorate, moved back to his hometown, then immediately hunkered down in pandemic mode. He was hired as executive director of BOP STOP and, oh yeah, became a father last year. “It’s been kind of like one thing after the other over the last couple of years,” he admitted, “and now here’s 40.”
Things have settled down somewhat in Kennard’s life—or as much as they can with a 15-month-old toddler in the house. So it’s time to relax, right?
Not a chance. His latest venture is a big one: 16 pieces big. It’s the Kennard Kennective, a big band he formed to present a growing book of compositions. Think of the band’s debut concert Sunday as a birthday present given by organizer and presenter Bryan Kennard to bandleader and composer Bryan Kennard.
Even at 40, Kennard said, “I still view myself as an emerging composer. This birthday show is in some ways, emblematic of that because a lot of the music we’re playing highlights a few of the different musical moments in my career.”
Kennard, whose doctorate from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music is in composition, has been writing for years. Cleveland audiences might know his music for the Third Law Collective, a mid-sized group he founded to present compositions by local musicians at a monthly residency at BOP STOP.
Kennard has also contributed charts to big bands led by saxophonist Bobby Selvaggio and guitarist Jeremy Poparad, but this his first outing as a bag band composer/leader, and, as he acknowledges, it’s not for the fainthearted. “There’s just a lot that goes into making a big band happen,” Kennard said. “A lot of gears are turning to make the music happen even before rehearsals.”
That includes filling the band’s 16 chairs, but for Kennard, that was the easy part. “Honestly, I just went through my list of friends who I’ve been making music with.” They include local stalwarts like saxophonists Selvaggio and Brad Wagner, trumpeters Tommy Lehman and Michael Dudley, a Frost classmate now on the New York scene, trombone players Chris Anderson and Zach Warren and a rhythm section that will include pianist Theron Brown, Dan Bruce on guitar and bassist Aidan Plank.
This being a birthday party, family will get into the act, too, with Kennard’s father, Dave, sitting in on banjo. “My dad wrote this song, ‘Stayed Around Too Long’ that I’ve heard pretty much all my life. How cool would it be to be heard with a big band?”
His father’s country rock is just one influence on Kennard’s still evolving compositional voice. Another is the natural world. “I love melodies that I hope evoke certain things, and I’m a big fan of groove.”
Though Sunday’s concert celebrates a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, Kennard would like to keep the party going with the Kennective. “Doing this writing and having the opportunity to kind of lead a band through my music just doesn’t happen enough,” he said. ”So I want this to keep going.”
His ultimate goal is to assemble enough of his music to fill out a recording. That might take a little time. With 40 just around the corner, Kennard has gained the patience and perspective to ride the groove.
“The things that you do to further your musical journey happen at their own rate,” he said. “They happen at their own time.”
For Bryan Kennard and his Kennective, that time is now.
The Kennard Kennective: Bryan’s 40th Birthday Celebration, Sun., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Rd., Cleveland, Tickets $20 available here.
NOTE: This article was written by a real human being. No artificial intelligence or generative language models were used in its creation.
Red beans and ricely yours,
jc
