Today we’d like to introduce you to Kait Dunton.
Hi Kait, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a Los Angeles-based jazz keyboardist and composer and have been working as a bandleader and solo artist for the past 15 years since releasing my first album in 2008. I also work as a recording artist for film & TV and have spent many years in academia, as well. I grew up in Pasadena, CA, and loved the piano from a very early age. My parents were not musicians, but there was an upright piano in the house, and I was always drawn to it. I started in private piano lessons before I can even remember and took lessons continually through high school with a number of different teachers over the years. The lessons focused on classical repertoire and technique. My introduction to jazz first came from reading music! I was always very good at sight reading, and I would come home from school and read music just for fun. I had stacks and stacks of books that ran the gamut from classical pieces by Mozart and Bach to jazzy arrangements of big band standards, as well as books like “The Joy of Boogie Woogie.” I don’t think I really knew what improvisation was—it wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility.
I knew some music theory, but because of my facility with sight reading, I could play a piece of music without having to really know much about the scales or the chords being used, something I would come to really understand later when I studied jazz theory and improvisation. I knew I loved jazz as a genre and had some records, but it wasn’t until college that I really got into improvisation. I was very fortunate to get very serious about jazz at the University of Virginia (UVA), where the music department was fairly small and the jazz department, especially, had a very low ratio of teachers to students. This allowed me to get a lot of time in with my teachers and let me explore this new musical interest in an environment very different from a competitive music program (like North Texas, where I went next!). I was learning to improvise from the ground up and luckily started my collegiate-level instruction from jazz piano teacher Bob Hallahan right away! I also met my long-time mentor, jazz trumpeter John D’earth, right away at UVA and was immediately drawn into his world of improvisation and holistic teaching methods. He taught an improvisation workshop in the evenings, designed especially for the non-improviser. Perfect! I also joined the jazz band, not knowing a thing about improvisation. This shows you what a special sort of person John is; he let me stay in the band to learn and grow despite not knowing the first thing about improvising or reading a lead sheet or playing big band piano.
After UVA, I went to the University of North Texas (UNT), where I received a Master’s of Music in Jazz Piano. This was a very different musical experience than I had at UVA—a much bigger program and way more competitive. At UVA, I was one of maybe two or three pianists involved in the jazz program. At UNT, there were easily 25 or more pianists. Before I even officially enrolled, I went to visit and ended up jamming with some students after a party. The students were Mike League (bassist and founder of Snarky Puppy) and Ross Pederson, an incredible drummer who played on my first album and on the song “Real & Imagined” which now has nearly three million streams on Spotify. What an introduction!! I immediately realized the level of students at UNT and knew I was in for a wild ride. I received the deepest and longest-lasting education there from my fellow students. From Mike, especially, I was able to witness firsthand what it’s like to be a composer and band leader—exactly what I’m doing now—and all of the trials and challenges involved with that.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to where I am today as a professional musician has been long and circuitous. However, I am happy to have had such an extended journey to really learn about myself, what I want, and maybe most importantly of all: what I don’t want. What may have seemed obvious to the proverbial outsider was something I did not allow myself to embrace until much more recently. It seemed too good to be true: that what I liked to do most was also the most important work I could be doing. Playing music and connecting with others through music brings me so much joy and fulfillment, and now that I understand on a deeper level that I can share this joy with others, it is even more exciting and meaningful than before. What started as a very personal, inwardly motivated journey is now my public expression of self and what I want to do for the rest of my years.
Playing music is more than just something I like to do—it is absolutely essential to who I am. It has taken me a long time to realize that connecting with others through musical expression is what makes me happy and whole. It seems like a simple concept that you will do your best work if you just lean into what you love most, but an interesting enigma of human nature is that it’s not always so easy to know what exactly that is! Looking back on when I was unhappy or unsatisfied, it was often because I was worried about what other people were doing or thinking and trying to please them or comparing myself to them. There are many forces at work, and clarity of purpose can be obscured or hindered by all kinds of things, not the least of which are self-created limitations.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a pianist and composer. Right now, I am focused mostly on my own artistic development and my career as a solo artist. This includes playing & practicing, composing, booking & playing shows, project development and execution, marketing & social media—and always, lots of learning! This summer, I released my 8th album, “Keyboards,” a celebration of vintage grooves and classic keyboards: the Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, Clavinet, and my first love, the acoustic piano. This project, released under my own label Real & Imagined, is a departure from my previous work because it focuses more on a specific era, the ‘70s, and its sonic signature. It is also the first time I’ve released a project on vinyl! I’ve always been very excited and inspired by the music and playing styles of Richard Tee, Herbie Hancock, the Brecker Brothers, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, and Ahmad Jamal, to name a few. I just love to play funky, rhythmic parts on the keyboard and I’ve started writing more music in this style. This latest album features Jake Reed on drums and Sean Hurley on bass. We recorded it together in the same room on vintage instruments to stay true to the timbres of the ‘70s jazz-funk era that I had in mind. Andrew Synowiec joined us on guitar for our first live performance of this music, and that proved to be so much fun that we have been performing as a four-piece ever since! I am so lucky to play with such a supportive and talented band.
A major career highlight was playing this year at the 66th Monterey Jazz Festival with this band. It was my debut at the Festival, and I could not have asked for a better experience or a more supportive and amazing group of musicians to do it with. We played music from my new record, “Keyboards,” and it was so memorable and fun. I hope it’s the first of many more shows to come! But aside from writing and performing my own music, I also love to record music for television and film and for other artists. There’s always something magical about recording in a studio. It is a sacred space for musicians, and you have to be so focused on—and in control of—every little aspect of your playing so it is a very heightened experience. Musicians are always seeking to find the happy medium between the hyper-control required for the recording studio and the freedom and energy released during a live performance. Ideally, you want to play in the studio with the same energy that you would on a live stage but with an exacting level of control. And on the other side of the coin, ideally, you want to be able to let loose and stretch in a live performance but still maintain all the precision and control of the recording studio.
Lately, I have started focusing more on social media and working toward connecting with a wider audience via Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Last year, I started posting videos of little pieces that I recorded in my home studio on Instagram and things really started taking off. Now I have nearly 138,000 followers on Instagram, and it has become very much a part of my daily musical life to continue to expand on the incredible opportunities that this platform provides. It is so inspiring and encouraging to connect with fans and read comments about how my music is having a positive impact on their lives—it is truly amazing! I am so grateful to be able to share the joy that music brings me with so many others. Social media, in fact, is the genesis of my last album! In 2022, I started posting short videos focusing on vintage keyboards and the effects pedals I like to use with them. Instagram’s Reels have a maximum time of 90 seconds, so I would write relatively simple compositions in order to keep the process of writing, recording, filming, and editing a new video to a minimum. Later that year, Jake Reed suggested that I record a full album to document these sounds. Not only is Jake an amazing drummer and husband, but he also has the best ideas! And thus “Keyboards” was born!
I love to play funky, rhythmic styles and have been getting more and more into vintage keyboards – especially the Fender Rhodes – and I love to pair them with effects pedals. I love playing the Hammond organ as well, but I am just beginning my education in that realm and am excited to go further with it. Synthesizers, as well, are such a vast and wonderful world, and I am eager to really understand the fundamental mechanics of synthesis so that when I turn a knob and get a sound that I love, I am more aware of exactly what is happening to the sound and how to repeat it later. I play in a lot of “jazz adjacent” styles like jazz-funk, jazz-rock, jazz-pop, etc. “Jazz Fusion,” in a nutshell. I love really digging in and seeing how deep the pocket can go with the band, how far we can stretch, and then finding our way back together. We have had a multi-month residency at the Baked Potato in Studio City, CA, and it is a perfect home to explore these styles. But I also really love playing classic, straight-ahead jazz. There is no substitute for the swing feel of an upright bass taking a walk, and it pairs so perfectly with a vintage drum kit and the acoustic piano, Oscar Peterson style.
Recently, I had the pleasure of playing with bassist David Piltch (along with Jake Reed on drums) and was reminded how much I love just swinging with an acoustic trio. Recently, as well, I had the pleasure of playing with guitarist Adam Levy. His moving, beautiful compositions reminded me of how much I love playing introspective music and the power of a poignant melody. I strive to always be connected when I play and tapped into the reality of the moment, whatever that might be. How do I feel? What is the energy in the room? Within the band? From the audience? All of this is synergistic. For the most authentic performance, I feel that it is important to take a moment to be who you are Right Now. To be open to feeling what you feel and what there is to feel without judgment. Music will happen whether you feel happy, sad, angry, hurt, etc., but if you try to ignore this or subvert it, the channel will be blocked. In other words, I try to remain open and go with the flow.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was—and remain—very much an introvert! I absolutely love connecting with others and want to make connecting with others very much a center point of my career, but I have to be alone to recharge and to do my best creative work. I love to be alone. It is inspiring and allows me to recalibrate. I grew up an only child (I have older siblings, but they were already out of the house by the time I showed up!) and spent a lot of time by myself at the piano, reading music and practicing—and was perfectly happy doing so! I was very imaginative and was always dreaming and inventing stories—I still am. I find that I am a mix of a hyper-focused, type-A, everything-planned-out perfectionist in addition to being a very open-minded improviser who is comfortable with chaos and the unknown. I fell in love with jazz and improvisation for its expressive, expansive, and inclusive qualities—for its capacity to surprise and for its embrace of playfulness and the unknown.
To me, improvising in music is much like speaking a language. You can communicate right away with the basics, but the deeper you go with it, the more nuance you learn and can control. And the richer the experience, the more possibilities for expression. In music, as in language, you can say the same thing 100 different ways, and they will mean something different depending on the circumstance, the way it is said, and the tone of voice: much like the song, the rhythm, and the notes.
Pricing:
- We have some really fun merch available that reflects the look and feel of the ‘70s era from my latest album Keyboards at this link: https://www.kaitdunton.
com/merch - Vinyl: $30
- T-Shirts & Caps: $30
- CDs: $15
- Stickers: $5
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.
kaitdunton.com/ - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/kaitdunton/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/kaitdunton - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/kaitdunton/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/
KaitDunton
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.
com/realandimaginedmusic - SoundCloud: https://
soundcloud.com/kaitdunton
Image Credits
Album cover: Peter Figen Kait Dunton (sitting): Charlie Weinmann
