Brian Kooken
Guitarist Brian Kooken hails originally from Arlington, Virginia, born in the 60s; in fact, he shares a birthday with the famed jazz guitar hero Wes Montgomery and Rock hero Pink Floyd’s David Gilmore.
Kooken’s musical exploration began at the tender age of eleven when his father taught him how to play. This fertile ground of youth grew into formal studies at Prince Georges Community College in Largo, Maryland with Fred Karnes Composer for National Geographic, the late great songstress, Eva Cassidy was a classmate at PGCC. In 1985 Kooken pursued his BA degree in Jazz/Commercial Performance on guitar. Graduating from Towson University in 1987.
Kooken had the esteemed pleasure of playing with the 1986 TSU Jazz Ensemble recording directed by Hank Levy. The 2014 movie Whiplash had the music of Hank Levy. Kooken regularly played, toured, and recorded with gospel singer William Becton from 1995 to 1998.
With the esteemed pleasure in 1997 to perform on TV for the Stellar Awards Gospel music show playing “Show Me How to Love Again.”
Kooken is a versatile stylist. from 2005 to 2008, he toured with Marva Wright, the Blues Queeen of New Orleans. Kooken recalls, “I met Marva when she moved to Maryland as a result of hurricane Katrina. She had lost her house”. Hammond Organist Greg Hatza and Kooken played in the rhythm for Wright and the two have been playing together ever since. In fact, Kooken can be heard on Hatza’s release Digging Up My Roots released on GHO Recording in 2016.
Now, Kooken Steps forward with his own leader realease BK Trio, Hit It, featuring Kooken on guitar, Greg Hatza on Hammond B3 organ, and Robert Shahid on drums. Todd Barkan NEA Jazz Master, owner of Keystone Korner in Baltimore, MD, recommends, “Brian Kooken is most definitely a major voice in modern jazz guitar, telling a unique and compelling story with each and every solo.”
BKTRIO
Hit It is a barn burning, get your groove on album that raises the rooftop with outstanding group rapport and technical prowess aplenty. “Hit It,” kicks off the album as Kooken immediately signals he is the real deal no foolin’. Tasty single lines, with a warm and balanced tone, he digs into each note with a fiery attack. Hatza Hammond playing is dripping with soulfulness. His note choices are as stellar as is his punctuated accents and fluid bassline notes holding down the bass and harmony role. Shahid, equally up to the task, lays down rhythmic clarity mixed with a finesse that takes this proceeding to another level.
“Always Looking Up” once again celebrates a collaborative group language. With each player adding many layers of sound to a quick-paced tune that ignites with potent force. “Brazilian Blues;” invokes a relaxed and comfortable Brazilian rhythm exhibiting the calmer waves of sophisticated beauty each player exhibits. Lookout, up next is “Hatza’s Groove,” and its namesake is aptly titled. A deeply felt swing is implored while Kooken picks with a a fluidity that is a credit to his storytelling abilities by the way he builds the melody and his solo.
“Its Monday and I’ve Got the Blues,” could honestly be every working person’s anthem. A slow-burning ballad that highlights the group’s deep love for the blues. Each player takes the tune with reverence, dripping each note with soulfulness and sophistication, never losing a moment of feeling. In That Funk Again,” switches gears with a mid-tempo groove, that Shahid employs mixed rhythms styles with punctuated hits while Kooken colorizes once again with soulful note choices, while Hatza adds thoughtful commentary, holding down the solid foundation. “5 Minutes Late” once again proves this trio has a deeply felt swing and a firm grasp of jazz-blues in their bones. “Soul for Shahid” is the final cut on the trio’s album, it’s big and bluesy and filled with a breezy melody that each player lays their well-chosen ideas into every crevasse of the tune, giving it tasty ending to a highly palatable release that is guaranteed to please everyone.
Brian Kooken: Guitar
Greg Hatza: Hammond B3 Organ
Robert Shahid: Drums
- HIT IT 4:18
- ALWAYS LOOKING UP 3:56
- BRAZILIAN BLUES 7:12
- HATZA’S GROOVE 7:56
- IT’S MONDAY AND I’VE GOT THE BLUES 6:18
- IN THAT FUNK AGAIN 7:26
- 5 MINUTES LATE 4:34
- SOUL FOR SHAHID 4:20
Composition,Improvisation, and Unity is what I live for.
”Brian Kooken is most definitely a major voice in modern jazz guitar,
“telling a unique and compelling story with each and every solo.”
