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30 October 2008 email: greatscottproductions@earthlink.net

Kim Pensyl is “Happy” to be back with a new contemporary jazz album

When Katie Smiles garnering radio play and favorable reviews

Returning to the genre that established his fan base and twice landed him as one of Billboard’s top 20 Contemporary Jazz Artists of the Year, jazz master Kim Pensyl released When Katie Smiles this week (October 28^th) on the Penton Music Productions label. The album produced, composed and arranged by the keyboardist is his first contemporary jazz disc in a decade. The bottom-heavy “Slap Happy” was the first track serviced to radio and is presently receiving play across the country. Initial reviews have lauded the album, the fourteenth in Pensyl’s twenty-year recording career that has mined explorations in solo piano, modern acoustic and contemporary jazz.

Pensyl has the innate gift of being able to communicate personal feelings and raw emotion via instrumentals. Through his revealing music, he forges an intimate bond with listeners who connect to his heartfelt compositions, which sonically depict an array of authentic moods. Through music he celebrates the mundane moments and exchanges between people that comprise every day life in the earnest hope of spreading light and joy. Although he has played trumpet and piano throughout his career, Pensyl’s instrumental voice on When Katie Smiles is the piano and keyboards. The production has a live sound and the musicians mingle with Pensyl’s keyboard leads yet never impinge or overwhelm the melodies while free to interact and improvise resulting in spontaneous moments of rapture.

The CD opens with the ebullient title cut. A showpiece of majestic artistry, “Where’d Love Go?” is a beautiful paean to romance. “Here Comes The Rain” offers elements both familiar and exotic. “Grand Lake” soothes and comforts in its peaceful, enveloping expansiveness. Pensyl’s lyrical piano poetry makes the stroll “Beside The Shallow Pond” an enchanting sojourn. The homey feeling pervading “Gentlewind Dr.” is perhaps because the song is named for the street on which the artist lives. A variety of instruments are granted the opportunity to speak up on the carefree and memorable “Summer Days.” Like many of Pensyl’s compositions, “Once Again” seamlessly unites accessibly simple with scholarly erudition. Throughout the course of “On This Day,” the tempo and mood of the piano vacillates, but the dependable rhythm section serves as the underlying pulse to keep things moving. Closing the collection is the sweet and rousing “Love Comes First.”

A regular on the Columbus, Ohio music scene, Pensyl leads a trio every Sunday at the WZJA-FM Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch at the Polaris Grill; every other Friday his trio plays at the Bexley Monk. He’ll perform November 18^th at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music where he is a prized part of the Jazz Studies program. Additional information is available at www.kimpensyl.com.

Below are highlights from some of the early album reviews:

Jazz Review: “A finely tuned craft of writing, performing and sharing his love of music with audiences is what Kim Pensyl is all about. His talent for interplay, releasing just the right note at the right moment, creating suspense and delivering all the listener hopes for is a very special skill Kim Pensyl has shared for 20 warm, wonderful years.”

Smooth Jazz Now: “His magical piano artistry that brought him fans decades ago is there once again with toe-tapping solos... So now on his fourteenth album Kim Pensyl has once again reached deep inside the creative forces and given us another extremely tasteful CD filled with melodies and arrangements that breathe and flow with passion and musicianship to match. The music connects with the listener in a private and intimate way and that is what makes music the most beautiful and touching art form there is when it connects one on one within our own deepest inner being making it personal. “

Smooth Jazz Blog: “When Katie Smiles is Kim Pensyl's very personal gift of musical feelings. Eternal music which withstands the ravages of time.”

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22 September 2008 email: greatscottproductions@earthlink.net

It’s all smiles as a happy Kim Pensyl returns

with a new contemporary jazz album

When Katie Smiles due October 28^th, “Slap Happy” leading the way at radio

Blessed with a bountiful life of jazz, music, love, family and education, pianist Kim Pensyl united his passions in a celebration of intimately inspired melodies and robust rhythm tracks on his fourteenth album, When Katie Smiles, scheduled for release October 28^th from Penton Music Productions. The eleven new compositions written, arranged and produced by Pensyl mark his return to contemporary jazz where he previously charted four top 10 Billboard contemporary jazz albums. Powered by a deep bass and thick drum beats, the first single that was just serviced to radio, “Slap Happy” boasts Pensyl’s nimble contra piano melodies in the foreground while he peppers the background with haunting keyboard fills.

A labor of love like his previous releases, When Katie Smiles finds Pensyl poignantly relishing mundane pleasures sparked from the simple give and take exchanges between people. He infuses his music with the same outlook by allowing his talented quartet to interact and improvise spawning moments of spontaneous splendor. His melodies are joyous, contemplative, heartfelt and eloquent, thoughtfully yet organically given space to breathe, unfold and flow in uncluttered arrangements. The production sounds live and warm as Pensyl’s piano and keyboards are enriched yet never out-muscled by the bass (Andy Woodson), drums (Reggie Jackson), electric and acoustic guitars (Kevin Turner) or percussion (Jim Ed Cobbs). In addition to the single, spotlight selections include the snappy title track that opens the collection, the beautiful and audaciously arranged “Where’d Love Go?,” the exquisite and expansive “Grand Lake,” the inviting and homey “Gentlewind Dr.,” and “Love Comes First,” which closes the album in a cinematically sweet mood.

“As on all my albums, When Katie Smiles is about communicating feelings born of my life experiences. This makes each album something very personal, emotional and expressive, but it also makes me a bit apprehensive since I put myself in such a vulnerable position by sharing my feelings so openly. However, the chance to communicate deeply with listeners is certainly worth the risk. It creates a bond of understanding that I treasure,” explained Pensyl. “My music is a positive light, deeply committed, and is offered with sincerity in the hope it will bring joy to others by sharing part of my life.”

Pensyl’s lust for music was born in the heart of the Columbus, Ohio native during the musical heyday of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He first picked up the trumpet and extensively studied composition, arranging, production, engineering and performing. He explored genres of music with fervor from jazz, big band, chamber and orchestral to rock, R&B and pop. After graduating The Ohio State University School of Music with honors, Pensyl moved to Southern California where he earned a Master’s degree in composition. He returned to Columbus after gaining valuable experience on the road performing and writing arrangements for various touring groups. Pensyl captained his own band at local gigs and also played solo piano dates. This led to the recording of his debut album, Pensyl Sketches #1, which was released twenty years ago. In 1989, ASCAP named him Best New Jazz Writer and two years later, NARM selected Pensyl Sketches #3 as Jazz Album of the Year. Twice Pensyl made Billboard’s top 20 Contemporary Jazz Artists of the Year. The dedicated family man who still wields the trumpet and piano has recorded with Toots Thielemans, Joey Calderazzo, Steve Rodby, Chieli Minucci, Alex Acuna, Adam Nussbaum, Andy Narell, Chuck Bergeron and Will Kennedy among others. He’s toured extensively throughout the world and has performed with his band on PBS, BET Jazz and Mexico TV. His albums have been diverse collections of modern acoustic jazz, contemporary jazz, solo piano renderings and even Christmas music.

Remaining a wide-eyed student of music himself, Pensyl took on the role of teacher in 2000 when he accepted a faculty position at The Ohio State University. Four years later, he joined the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where he is an integral part of the Jazz Studies program. Pensyl writes for and performs with guest artists at the university such as Arturo Sandoval, Bob Mintzer and Terri Lyne Carrington. He enjoys sharing his immense knowledge, vast experience and great love of music with his students. Enthused and committed to challenging himself in his writing and performance, Pensyl plays concerts regularly in Ohio and is anxious to take the band out on the national circuit in support of When Katie Smiles. Additional information is available at www.kimpensyl.com.

The songs contained on Pensyl’s When Katie Smiles are:

“When Katie Smiles”

“Slap Happy”

“Where’d Love Go?”

“Here Comes The Rain”

“Grand Lake”

“Beside The Shallow Pond”

“Gentlewind Dr.”

“Summer Days”

“Once Again”

“On This Day”

“Love Comes First”

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