I have been wanting to have a place to comment on current events, my family, books I am reading, the musicians I make music with, my experiences performing with well known musicians, my hobbies and anything else that catches my attention. So here goes! And by the way, click here to visit www.kennavarro.com.

7th: I'm playing and practicing the guitar quite a little bit these days, working on new music from "Dreaming of Trains" and learning some new things. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

I travelled recently to Dallas, TX for a couple of shows last week at a fantastic new place called Jokes and Jazz. In a few weeks, I will be headed to Charlotte, NC with my band for the Uptown Charlotte Jazz Festival on Saturday June 26 where I will be appearing on the same bill with Norman Brown, The Rippingtons, Alex Bugnon, Maysa and Mike Phillips. Then, on Friday, July 2nd, I will be performing at The Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis, MD with my special guest Jeff Kashiwa from The Rippingtons and The Sax Pack. You can purchase your tickets and pick out your custom seats for The Rams Head right here! A week later, on July 9, I will be appearing as part of the Hoop City Jazz & Art Festival in Springfield, MA. Then onto Seattle for a living room concert and then to Boston for a couple of shows at the famed Bostonion jazz club, Scullers on August 27. I hope to see and meet you at one of my upcoming shows this summer.

MAY 2010

18th: It's already been almost a month since my last entry here. Time keeps moving quickly as summer is almost upon us and I begin to travel and do quite a few shows. I am rehearsing the songs from "Dreaming of Trains" in expectation of performing some of the songs from the new CD in my upcoming shows.

Speaking of shows, I recently played the Smooth Jazz For Scholars concert in Connecticut with Jay Rowe, Chieli Minucci, Mindi Abair, Nick Colionne and Shilts. There were so many highlights in the show and it may very well have been the best one so far (this was the 8th annual Smooth Jazz For Scholars show!). One of the highlights for me was performing my song "Smooth Sensation" with Mindi Abair guesting on saxophone. I seldom have sax on this song and so it's fun to introduce a new sound into the mix of a song I have played literally hundreds of times. But the real treat was hearing how Mindi found a part within my arrangement which added a new dimension. This was a challenge due to the fact that there was so much music to be rehearsed during the sound check that Mindi and I did not get a chance to rehearse the song with the band (Jay Rowe on keyboards, Dave Livolsi on bass, Trever Somerville on drums and Steve Scales on percussion). So, Mindi and I found a quiet place backstage and I taught her the melody and the form of the song. Mindi is a "let's go for it" musician and I was quite impressed with her ability to quickly absorb the song and her totally positive attitude. Some musicians would have declined to perform a new song without a full rehearsal but not Mindi! She played great on it and took this hit song of mine to a new place.

Another cool moment for me was guesting on Chieli's version of "Cause We Ended As Lovers". I love that song and the way Chieli plays it and we had some special moments together on it. And Chieli returned the favor by guesting on a new song of mine from "Dreaming of Trains" called "The Buzz". And he played wonderfully on it too as we traded melodies and improvised off of each other.

As always, Jay Rowe kept all of the music together for all of the "star" musicians. I don't know how Jay pulls of this magnificent event year after year and my hat is off to Jay. There were close to 1,000 people at the show and much money was raised for the music departments of the schools in Jay's home town of Milford, CT.

My next show is going to be a great one in Charlotte, NC on Saturday June 26 - the first annual Uptown Charlotte Jazz Fest . Besides me, there will also be Maysa with Mike Phillips and his band, Norman Brown, The Rippingtons, and Alex Bugnon. How's that for a killer lineup? You can get tickets here. Hope to see you all there and at another of my shows this year!

APRIL 2010

22nd: It's been too long since my last blog entry here and now I have so much to say.... where to begin... alright, some news. My brand new CD "Dreaming of Trains" is being received so well by fans and critics alike... I feel grateful and proud. More news... after 7 months of doing a daily radio show at smoothjazznow.com, I recorded my last week of shows yesterday. You can still hear me this week and through Friday April 30 from 3-5 pm est. It was fun but very time consuming and in the end, it was taking me too far into the "smooth" jazz world of radio which is not where I am at these days. John Beaudin, the program director and founder of smoothjazznow, made it as easy as humanly possible for me to do the show but in the end it ended up taking nearly a full day to do it all. John really helped me to spice up the music on my show with all kinds of excellent contemporary jazz and he was very open to including my suggestions for the music as well. I am truly appreciative of John's support and guidance and his understanding that I now need to put my time into composing and performing and touring behind my brand new CD "Dreaming of Trains". Other news - I am getting ready to travel to Connecticut next week to perform with Mindi Abair, Nick Collionne, Chieli Minucci and Jay Rowe at Jay's 8th annual Smooth Jazz For Scholar's Concert. I will be playing my song "Smooth Sensation" with Mindi, a new song of mine called "The Buzz" with Chieli from "Dreaming of Trains" and a tour de force composition of mine "On My Way To Somewhere" from my 2008 CD "The Grace of Summer Light" CD. It's always fun to do this show and this year will no exception. And I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. I even have some family in Connecticut and so I hope to hang out with them all after the show. Let's see...other news.. Dorothy Height, a great civil rights activist passed away this week and a wonderful appreciation was written for her in the Washington Post. Here's a link. We must never let the passing of a great woman such as Dorothy Height go by without notice. She is one of those special people who never gave up or gave in and in the process, she made each and every one of our lives better.

A beautiful book I just finished - "The Last of His Mind" by John Thorndike.

A couple of excellent movies (documentaries) I recently saw via NetFlix - "The Rutles" and "The Business of Being Born".

Well, that's enough of my yakking! (for those of you who are fans of the movie "Spinal Tap"). And if you haven't picked up a copy of "Dreaming of Trains" yet, please do. Your support means everything to me. And if you have and are enjoying it, thank you! Please let all of your family and friends know too. It's what keeps me going. Thanks for reading my ramblings and talk to you again soon.

My best,

Ken

MARCH 2010

16th: Today is the official release day for "Dreaming of Trains". You can still purchase an auotgraphed copy or download right here but you can also pick it up at iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many other retail and online stores. There have been many excellent reviews already - many of them calling for a Grammy! - and it is already at #10 on the Contemorary Jazz Radio charts. So many of my fans have already picked up a copy of "Dreaming of Trains" and have been spreading the word. Please tell your fellow contemporary and smooth jazz music friends about my new CD. Word of mouth is so powerful and for me your support is vital. As always, I thank you for allowing me to continue to make this music.

Ken

FEBRUARY 2010

17th: This week I published a new and free podcast, all about the creation and recording of my brand new CD "Dreaming of Trains" and what this new music means to me. Here is the link where you can listen to the podcast . This is the latest in a podcast series I have been doing since 2006. Hope you enjoy and that you all find it interesting to go behind the scenes with me....

JANUARY 2010

13th: Happy New Year! This past Friday, the new CDs arrived here at our Positive Music Records warehouse. Even though I have been through this day many times before ("Dreaming of Trains" is my 19th CD), it is always a very exciting occasion. We immediately began to fill the hundreds of pre-orders which had come in since I announced the upcoming release. So if you already placed your order, you should be receiving your copy any day if you haven't already. I am so excited! Even though the new CD will not be available in retail and online stores until the official release date of March 16, you can purchase it here exclusively RIGHT NOW and we will ship it to you the same day you place your order. And I will sign it to you and I will include a signed 8x10 glossy photo of myself to you as well. Is is really cool to run your own record company when you can connect with people in this immediate way!