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produced by KJ Denhert. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Leslie BLoom. From 2005. This Live CD is one where the audience is right there. These are real shows at local venues that capture the live experience, with extended solos and a chance for the music to stretch as we are want to do. It features two quartets, five original tunes, and five of my most requested cover tune arrangements. A bonus track is included which is a first release of The Deed is Done recorded in John Caban’s studio in Brooklyn. You’ll hear KJ’s guitar solos and signature acoustic wah-wah stylings, featured more prominently on this CD than any previous releases. Play Jellybean Play Moondance Play Samples of the entire album Songs on this album are: 1. Moondance 2. Love On The Side 3. Little Mary 4. Summertime 5. Jellybean 6. Ain't No Sunshine 7. Sunny 8. Girl Like Me 9. Hit The Road Jack 10. Deed is Done  | | Produced by Ned Mann. From 2003. Girl Like Me is a studio CD, produced to be compatible with radio programming. It features nine original tunes and three urban folk and jazz arrangements of classic songs from different eras. This CD received an independent music award nomination, an outmusic award nomination, and a just plain folks nomination. Play Oleander Play She Loves You Play Samples of the entire album Songs on this album are: 1. The Silence Was Deafening 2. Oleander 3. Little Mary 4. Violet 5. Girl Like Me 6. She Loves You 7. How Many Ways 8. I Like Your Face 9. Red July prelude 10. Red July 11. Message In a Bottle 12. Oh Susannah |
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Produced by KJ Denhert. Recorded and mixed by Billy Masters. Mastered at Jigsaw Sound, NY by Michael Iuarto. This is the first Mother Cyclone Records release featuring another artist, Adam Falcon. It is a lovely documentation of song writing, acoustic guitars and arranging. KJ Denhert and Adam Falcon debut their duo effort in the urban folk and jazz idiom to rave reviews. This CD was nominated for an independent music award in 2004. Play Private Angel Play Tupelo Honey Play Samples of the entire album Songs on this album are: 1. Aqua De Beber 2. My Dear Heart 3. My Love is Complete 4. Love Moves On 5. When You Smile 6. Open Your Heart 7. Tupelo Honey 8. Infinite Na-Na 9. Eleanor Rigby 10. Private Angel | | Produced by KJ Denhert. Recorded by Paul Hirsch. Mixed and mastered by Ned Mann. From 2001. This CD was recorded live without a studio audience, in the way that records were made in the 1950s. All original tunes, no overdubs, and all the energy of live show. Play Red July Play Understanding Play Samples of the entire album Songs on this album are: 1. Red July Prelude 2. Red July 3. Violet 4. There's No Mercy 5. Riviera 6. Wonder of it All 7. I Found You 8. Understanding 9. The Silence Was Deafening |
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Produced by KJ Denert and the late Donny Black. From 1999. This CD was the 1999 debut of Urban Folk and Jazz. Five original tunes plus two segues. This is the first recording of the New York Unit, from the 1999 roster including the late Donny Black, producer and keyboardist for the band. It has been out of print for several years and is now available once again through this site. Play Love On The Side Play I Found You Play Samples of the entire album: Songs on this EP are: 1. Strange Crazy Love 2. Love On The Side 3. Jellybean 4. I Found You 5. I Got Time (Live On Take Mix) | | Produced by KJ Denhert. Mixed and mastered by Jay Bentoff. From 1995. This CD marks the debut of Mother Cyclone Records with KJ and the band known as the Cyclone Sisters. The band was formed in Cleveland Ohio in 1994 and released songs from The Casa Del Wacko shortly before KJ’s return to NY. Eight original songs from KJ plus the Kelly Polian original song Get it Together and an early version of KJ’s renowned arrangement of Oh Susannah. This CD has been out of print for several years and is now available once again through this site. Play There's No Mercy Play Elaine Play Samples of the entire album Songs on this album are: 01. There's No Mercy 02. Tonight 03. Fire Of Your Own 04. Get It Together 05. Oh Susannah 06. Elaine 07. My World 08. Share The Moon 09. The Telephone Song 10. Isn't Life Funny |
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| From AllMusic.com: In the '70s, no one did more to bridge the gap between soul and the folk-pop/folk-rock/soft rock world than Roberta Flack, who acquired a very interracial following and managed to appeal to Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan enthusiasts as well as the Joni Mitchell/Joan Baez/Judy Collins crowd. Hits like "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" were played on R&B stations, but they also had enough of a singer/songwriter aesthetic to win over what was essentially a '70s equivalent of today's Lilith Fair audience. It isn't hard to understand why, three decades later, singer/songwriter KJ Denhert was invited to open for Flack; Girl Like Me is the perfect marriage of neo-soul and folk-rock/adult alternative sensibilities (with hints of jazz at times). Flack, in fact, is among Denhert's influences, as are Khan, Mitchell, Janis Ian, and James Taylor. But while Denhert has her musical points of reference, Girl Like Me demonstrates that she is a talented, expressive storyteller in her own right — and she obviously doesn't believe in confining herself to one genre. Denhert has a lot to offer fans of Alicia Keys, Macy Gray, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu, but anyone who is seriously into Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin, or the Indigo Girls also needs to pay close attention to her. While Girl Like Me is dominated by Denhert's own songs, she provides a few memorable covers as well (including a slightly bossa nova-ish take on the Police's "Message in a Bottle" and an unlikely remake of the Beatles' "She Loves You"). This very promising effort demonstrates that while Denhert isn't easy to pigeonhole, she is very easy to enjoy. by Alex Henderson  More about KJ Denhert: "With a girl like me, you know you won't get bored," sings KJ Denhert on the title track of her new CD, Girl Like Me. Those who have experienced KJ live would certainly agree. Her sense of joy onstage is infectious, bringing honesty and charisma to her talents as a songwriter, singer and guitarist. As an experienced bandleader who plays without a net, she always takes you on a fun ride. KJ has taken the rhythm, wit and passion of her performances, and wrapped them up in lush arrangements and sparkling production to create Girl Like Me. KJ calls her music Urban Folk and Jazz, though it is rooted in Funk and R & B. "The jazz," she explains, "comes from people's perceptions of my guitar voicings and the structure of the tunes themselves…using extended solos and players working off of each other. Urban reflects my childhood, growing up in NYC, and folk, I really adored James Taylor, my first guitar influence." Her lyrics tread the familiar grounds of romance, hope and despair, but in unique ways, as in "Violet", "We wanted to be lovers like sunrise and the sea/we waded in like infants undressed but with dignity." KJ and her band, The NY Unit, a group of musicians with rock-solid credentials, have a regular standing room only gig at The 55 Bar in NY's West Village. KJ has also performed in such legendary rooms as The Bitter End, The Bottom Line, Fez and The Living Room. She has opened for Roberta Flack, Kenny Rankin, Tuck & Patti, Phil Roy, GQ and Loudon Wainwright. She appeared at The Bottom Line's prestigious Nightbird series, and headlined for a 6-day stint at the Blue Note in Las Vegas. For seven years, she toured the US, Asia and Europe shredding it up as a lead electric guitarist in a period she describes as 'seven years in spandex'! At the 2003 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, audiences voted KJ into the top four of the Emerging Artist Showcase. The song "Violet", from Girl Like Me, has secured KJ a 2003 Independent Music Award and a 2004 Out Music Award nomination for singer/songwriter of the year. "Red July" from her 2001 Live CD was nominated for Just Plain Folks' best female singer-songwriter award. KJ is garnering staunch media support in print (New York Times and Westchester Weekly), radio (WFUV, WPKN, WMUA) and the internet (BestFemaleMusicians.com, Collected Sounds, Girl.com). KJ lends her support to many charitable organizations, with a special interest in Women's health, AIDS and cancer research. She appears annually in the PNW Women's Resource Center Telethon and plays live "on-site" concerts for hospitalized HIV patients through LifeBeat, Inc. Her music appears on compilation CDs, including The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Album and Brooklyn Above Ground, in support of World Hunger Year. KJ resides in Westchester, NY and states her goals are simple. As an independent record label owner and founder of Mother Cyclone Records, she says, "I want to grow my label and just keep writing". In 2003 she walked away from a successful corporate career to launch Urban Folk and Jazz, with several new recording projects underway. She is motivated to provide her musicians a decent living that includes healthcare. She dedicates her life mostly to music and explains her passion, "I get to do what I really love. I've lived the truth of the slow build as a marketing strategy. I work hard to put out the best material I can, whether we're playing live or in the studio. It is a very exciting time for a Girl Like Me." And even more: Native New Yorker K.J. Denhert has not been an easy artist to pigeonhole. The far-reaching singer/songwriter is relevant to folk-rock and adult alternative, but she is equally relevant to neo-soul — and at times there are hints of jazz in her work. Denhert likes to describe her solo material as "urban folk-jazz," and while her folk-rock/R&B blend isn't straight-ahead jazz in the way that Abbey Lincoln and Carmen McRae are straight-ahead jazz, she does incorporate jazz elements when it's appropriate. The singer/songwriter, who plays both acoustic and electric guitar, brings a variety of influences to the table — influences ranging from Chaka Khan and Roberta Flack to Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian, Simon & Garfunkel, and James Taylor. In fact, Denhert has been quoted as saying that her earliest influence was Taylor (who married '70s soft rock/adult contemporary star Carly Simon and shouldn't be confused with the James "J.T." Taylor who became Kool & the Gang's lead singer in the late '70s). The list of artists Denhert inspires comparisons to is long and diverse. The Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, and Sarah McLachlan are valid comparisons, but so are neo-soul artists such as Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Jaguar Wright. Denhert wouldn't be out of place on a Lilith Fair stage, nor she would be out of place in Vibe magazine. While Denhert was born in New York City in the late '50s and grew up in the Bronx, her parents were immigrants who had moved to the Big Apple from the country of Grenada. By the age of ten, Denhert was studying the guitar and listening to a lot of folk-rock and singer/songwriters (especially Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel, and James Taylor). After reaching adulthood, she enrolled at Cornell University but ended up dropping out during her sophomore year and joined an all-female rock band called Fire. Denhert spent a total of six years with Fire; she joined in 1980 and stayed with the band until its breakup in 1986. After that, she took a non-musical temp job with the Dannon company (as in Dannon yogurt) and eventually became a business analyst for that outfit. But Denhert never gave up music; when she was based in Cleveland, OH, and working for Dannon during the day, Denhert played guitar in a funk band on the side. After several years in Cleveland, Denhert moved back to the Big Apple in 1995 — and the mid- to late '90s found her performing as a solo artist on the Manhattan club scene (where she performed mostly original material but also included some covers here and there). Since the late '90s, Denhert (who was 44 in 2003 and now lives in suburban Westchester, NY) has put out several releases on her own label, Mother Cyclone Records, including the EP Looking Forward, Looking Back (her first solo effort) in 1999, Live in 2001, and Girl Like Me in early 2003. by Alex Henderson Visit KJ's Web Site |