ConnectsMusic Q&A – Danny Keane
Cerebral, hypnotic and meditative, ‘Kinesis’ is a stunning, complex and multi-layered album. Composed/written by Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Danny Keane. Drawing in like-minded listeners who thrive on the spirit of musical discovery, story-telling and curiosity – its movements and progressive are reflective expressions reflecting a shape shifting life Grammy nominee, Danny Keane has lived since his debut release in 2020.
‘Kinesis’ sits in the musical landscape across both jazz, alongside experimental, electronic, and progressive sounds, while paying homage to the non-western jazz players that Danny has been mentored by over his career.
Announcing the release of the sophomore album is his third single: ‘Time To Go’.
Do drop into the audio world of ‘Time To Go’ and ‘Kinesis’ here:
DANNY’s WEBSITE
1. Danny, fantastic to catch up – love your music! For ConnectsMusic readers who may not know your full story yet, it would be great to hear a bit about yourself and what first drew you to create music – was there a particular artist musical moment that made you think, “yes, this is what I want to do”?
I grew up in a musical household influenced by all styles of music. So music was just something that we always did. I don’t think there was a particular moment that made me decide to go into music, but I gradually realised over my early years that music is what I loved above all else. This need for music inevitably made my follow the path into music education and then ultimately the profession.
2. You have worked with an extraordinary range of artists, including Mulatu Astatke, Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney, Damon Albarn, Penguin Café and The Heliocentrics. Have the different musical environments influenced you?
Yes, absolutely. I think working in all styles of music really helps you understand that the building blocks of music are pretty much the same throughout the world. People just come at it with their own angle informed by their own culture. This is what fascinates me the most – using this universal language to have our own say, to have your own flavour. It allows us all to communicate fluently and enrich our lives by absorbing a different approach.
3. After a heavy touring schedule and six years since Roamin’, does it feel a grounding experience returning with your next album, Kinesis?
I suppose in some ways it does. The sheer relief and joy of getting an album over the finish line is certainly grounding. That sense of achievement. But conversely, putting an album to bed instantly inspires you to set off again on the journey of making another one!
4. The album title suggests movement, momentum and change. What does Kinesis mean to you personally and musically? And did it’s inspiration and meaning evolve for you in the process of writing?
Sometimes I find the act of labelling a piece of music an odd concept, particularly as I feel the listener should be allowed make up their own mind as to what it means to them. I don’t really set out to write an ‘album’ with such and such amount of tracks. With Kinesis, I just started to write tracks over the past few years, and then I looked back at them and saw a connection with movement and change – perhaps reflecting my own time in my life. The world has been through a lot in the last six years and we all have a story to tell. I guess this is just my one.
5. “Time To Go” has a deeply personal story behind it, connected to leaving a long-running music house where you had lived, played, written and toured with friends for many years. What did that place mean to you, and how did you know it was time to leave, and do you feel this is somehow a valuable and universal experience which many people come to experience at a point in their lives?
Living in this house was some of the best years of my life. It was a place where things just happened, relentlessly. It drew together a great community of creatives, not just musicians. Having these experiences with my dearest friends very much moulded my musical form, something I will always be grateful for. But, naturally, people mature and a clearer path of their own direction becomes an overwhelming draw. Stepping away from this place was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. The experiences I had there made me who I am, but soon I realised that I wasn’t going to progress in my personal and artistic life if the familiarity of the past kept me locked in. So the inevitable hand of change dragged me out the front door! Launching into the unknown, I finally had the space to develop and feel free to find new ways, something I think we can all relate to.
6. Writing “Time To Go”, what drew you to strip the sound back to piano, double bass (Jon Thorne) and drums (Sarathy Korwar), and was it a poignant choice for you to place this as the final tune in the context of the album Kinesis?
Piano trio has always been one of my favourite formations – there’s so much freedom and space to explore the music within the ensemble. The other tracks on the album have quite heavy instrumentation, so I thought the trio would provide a nice contrast.
Closing an album with a ballad might not always be the natural choice, but in this case it acts as a final sigh with a thread optimism rising out of the final cadence. Not just time to go but also time to move on.
7. Kinesis moves through acoustic jazz, nu jazz, fusion and more exploratory material. Do you think of those as separate building blocks, or connected, and part of the same musical language for you?
I don’t really set out to combine these different genres when I’m writing. I guess I just draw from my own musical experiences and try to make something comprehensive. So yes, I don’t really see any divisions in music, just one language to pull from. I think as long as the intention is there then anything is possible.
8. ‘Kinesis’ features stellar musicians, all renowned in their own-right: Ruth Goller, Byron Wallen, Aref Durvesh, Pirashanna Thejaravah, Richard Olatunde Baker and others – what drew you to each performer and how did you consider musical interactions between them throughout specific tunes?
I’ve played live with these musicians extensively all over the world. Forming a musical relationship with them on stage is a precious thing, knowing there is complete trust between us and we all have each other’s backs onstage and offstage for that matter. They have definitely inspired my writing. Interestingly I started to write tracks with them in mind, knowing that their personalities would inform the music, and trusting that they will intuitively know what to do. Often you don’t want to be too prescriptive as it’s nice to let them have a sense of ownership over the music. But what I really love is when a musician takes your music and plays it in a way that you would never have thought of. That is really what collaboration is about – continually learning from each other, and there is so much to learn!
9. As a multi-instrumentalist, your expertise is evident as you musical cover Fender Rhodes, analogue synths, organ, even cello too! Plus obviously your wonderful composition, arrangements, string arrangement and programming. How do you feel about maintaining such clear artistic control over your musical creations?
I think ultimately that we are here to serve the music. The music is not here to serve us. Having multiple faculties to throw at a piece of music just means that I can explore my ideas and visions in more depth. All areas of music have always fascinated me, so I try to have as much as I can at my fingertips ready to experiment when an idea starts to emerge.
10. After everything that has gone into Kinesis, what feels different about this point in your musical life?
After a decades of performing, collaborating, touring, & recording, the release of my first album Roamin’ in 2020 felt like the right time to share my own music with the world. This kind of got the ball rolling and since then I’ve continued to grow and mature as a composer. I feel that Kinesis is a kind of distillation of everything I’ve written before. So perhaps now my writing is more focused and to the point. But there is no endgame – the joy is in the journey and allowing yourself to develop with an open mind.
11. Finally, how important do you think it is to inspire other people in their own creative music journey – e.g. for artists in the ConnectsMusic community who are trying to make space for their own work alongside collaborations, touring and session work, what advice would you give?
Absorb as much as you can without prejudice or snobbery. All creations around us are valid and the building blocks of creativity are universal. Unintentionally we always inspire each other, so use this inspiration to make things happen. Create your own projects, your own opportunities, and focus your passion on what make you fulfilled. This can be different things for different people, but for me it’s been about creating music to give back to a world that has given me so much.
