John M. Kennedy
Composer-Bassist-Educator
Music “coming out of contemporary music and the Jazz tradition from multiple eras”, composer James Newton
“Creating the spark in others that music created in me. ”
RECORDINGS
As Composer
EQUINOX (for EPK click here)
Soundset Recordings
As Bassist
"A Chaos of Light and Motion"
Music of Jack Van Zandt w/ soprano Stacey Fraser
Neuma Records
Release: March 21, 2025
COMMISSIONS
Collaboration with NASA/JPL and the Mars, PA Robotics Program.Premiere: June 7, 2025
Set of double bass duets for David Heyes and Recital Music Ltd., UK
December 2025
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
"From the Ground Up"
Symphony of the Verdugos
Paul Sherman, conductor
June 1, 2025, Glendale, CA
"Matins à deux"
Satik Andriassian, guitar, Jaqueline Suzuki, violin
Edendale Library, Echo Park
May 3, 2025
Recognitions
2024 ASCAP Plus Award
2021 President's Distinguished Professor
California State University, Los Angeles
2017 Fulbright Scholar, The University of Malta
Featured Work
Mnemonic Meditations Book 1, II. B.T.
This work, dedicated to the memory of Breonna Taylor is from the first set in a series of meditations, memorializing African Americans killed at the hands of police and those acting in the name of the police. These meditations came to the composer in early June 2020 as the United States erupted in civil unrest at the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the midst of a global pandemic, Americans took to the streets to express their outrage. These pieces are an expression of the composer’s outrage, and frustration that the world health crisis kept him from active participation in the unrest.
Each of the four meditations have an inscription of the pitches applied to the name of each person(s) memorialized, and in some cases have a brief comment clarifying notational practice and interpretation. The notation is in a rather mannerist style where the accidentals are notated to reflect the pitch mnemonics. In some cases, this creates intervallic spellings counter to notational best practices. Click on the score for a performance by James Ford III
Each of the four meditations have an inscription of the pitches applied to the name of each person(s) memorialized, and in some cases have a brief comment clarifying notational practice and interpretation. The notation is in a rather mannerist style where the accidentals are notated to reflect the pitch mnemonics. In some cases, this creates intervallic spellings counter to notational best practices. Click on the score for a performance by James Ford III