Smooth Jazz, The Next Generation
September 21, 2005 - It's a pretty safe bet to say any down to the bone smooth jazz fan would just love to say of an artist "I remember when he was just playing the clubs". There are more up and coming smooth jazz artists than you can count. But thanks to the efforts of a young musician from Southern California, there is a website where these young virtuosos can "strut their stuff", and where fans of the genre can watch for rising stars. Eighteen year old Shannon Kennedy, of Southern California has created www.teenjazz.com. Shannon tells Smooth Jazz Now that the idea for TeenJazz.com originated when she began writing advice articles for other young musicians. She decided that the site should be solely for other teen musicians, and started writing features on outstanding young players and offering room to other kids to have a page on Teen Jazz. Shannon, whose main instrument is the alto sax, also plays flute, soprano sax, tenor sax bari sax, clarinet, oboe, piccolo, and she also does some singing. She's pretty proud of her site, which is the largest Teen Jazz website, offering opportunities to kids to network, and share about what they do. As for the future of the site, Shannon says "I hope that it continues to grow in that direction and help the next generations of musicians to have an awareness of all the great music that is out there, and that they can be part of." Shannon says she has received plenty of positive feedback. "Lots of older musicians are willing to help me out and contribute. The kids who have been on the site are ecstatic about the content and I have received hundreds of emails from people thanking me for taking the time to create TeenJazz." Check out Shannon's site, www.teenjazz.com. Special guest musician for September is trumpet player, Greg Adams. - by Liz Rivard