Kenny Klimak
Guitarist
CURRENT PROJECTS
KENNY KLIMAK TRIO
Since 2010, Kenny has been heading up his own trios. He is back gigging around Los Angeles playing jazz standards and originals.
DAPHNE GALE – KENNY KLIMAK
Most recently Kenny has teamed up with singer/songwriter Daphne Gale.
HISTORY
Kenny Klimak has been a professional musician since he was a teenager in the late sixties. He started in Cleveland, Ohio while still in high school, playing sorority parties for his older sister’s college friends, went on ultimately to play as a band member with Dr. John, the legendary New Orleans musician, and currently leads a jazz trio in Los Angeles.
KLIMAK-HSU-PACHECO
Based on the “Rebecca’s Dream” CD, Kenny formed a trio with Diane Hsu (flute) and Bennie Pacheco (percussion). They performed tunes from Rebecca’s Dream and other pieces composed by Kenny and Diane.
LISTEN: VILLA VALENTINO | SEVEN WISHES | WALKIN’ WITH THE EMPERORREBECCA’S DREAM
Then in 2001 Kenny recorded his solo acoustic guitar album, “Rebecca’s Dream”. Here is a sample of some of the tunes from that CD. Individual tunes, or the whole CD, "Rebecca's Dream", can be found at Apple iTunes, and on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Search: Rebecca's Dream, Kenny Klimak
LISTEN: CAN’T GO BACK | NEW BALTIMORE | MOZAIC MOMENT
PAULA MCMATH
When Edison Rex disbanded, Kenny joined up with singer/songwriter Paula McMath. Kenny wrote music, Paula wrote lyrics. They played gigs around town as a duo for about a year. The following are a sample of some of the tunes they wrote.
LISTEN: JUST ASK HIM | WITH YOUR KISS | RUNNIN’ FROM MYSELF | BELIEVE YOU AREEDISON REX
Kenny left the music scene from the early nineties until the mid-nineties, when bassist/song writer/vocalist Chris Harrison encouraged Kenny to start playing again, which led to the trio, Edison Rex. Chris Harrison-bass/vocals; Kenny KIimak-Guitar; Ed Mongillo-Drums. Edison Rex played all the hot clubs around L.A. in the late nineties. Tunes are from their only CD, “In The Beginning”.
LISTEN: THE BIRTH | LOVE’S LAST STAND | DRIVE BY | WHY SHOULD IMAN WALKING
In 1990 Kenny wrote and directed 35 minute film entitled, “Man Walking”. He assembled long time friends, bassist Kevin Brandon and drummer/percussionist John Fitzgerald to record the score for this film. MIDNIGHT is the first of seven tracks.
LISTEN: MIDNIGHT | SIX IN THE MORNINGCOCO REMOTE
In the mid ‘80s Kenny and Boro joined forces with John Grigo to form the group Coco Remote. Coco Remote played at all the hip clubs in L.A. at the time.
LISTEN: PREHISTORIC | PAIN & PLEASURE | MUSICALLY RETARDED BOY | STREET SCENEEARBALL
Kenny’s next project was heading up his own group called Earball, with Bosnian bassist, Boro Vukadinovic. They played locally in southern California for several years in the early ‘80s.
LISTEN: NORDIC PRINCE | EARBALLTHE PAUL PETERS / GUY KORTE TRIO
During the mid to late ‘70s, Kenny kicked around in supper clubs in LA, playing jazz standards 5 hours a night, 6 nights a week. The marquee at one of the supper clubs read: “The Paul Peters/Guy Korte Trio”. Kenny used to joke that his name was “Trio”.
HENRY FRANKLIN
During this time Kenny also met Henry Franklin, professionally known as “the Skipper”, and played on Henry’s albums, “The Skipper”, “The Skipper at Home” and “Tribal Dance”. He also played multiple gigs around the L.A. area with “The Skipper”.
DR. JOHN - THE NIGHT TRIPPER
During this time Kenny met Shirley Mae Goodman of Shirley and Lee (“Let the Good Times Roll”). She introduced Kenny to Dr. John. Kenny toured with Dr. John for a year, all over the U.S, Canada and Puerto Rico. During that time Dr. John recorded his iconic New Orleans album “Gumbo”, which Kenny played on. Dr. John introduces the band at around 42:30 minutes into this link, right after the tune "Iko Iko".
LISTEN: Dr. John in Syracuse, NY on YouTubeHOT TAMALES
Bluesberry Jam’s management sold their record contract, which delayed the release of the Decca recording and demoralized the group. Bluesberry Jam disbanded, reforming as a much smaller group called Hot Tamales. A west coast vice-president/producer for Liberty Records recorded Hot Tamales with the intention of getting a deal with Liberty, but he was fired in ’71 when Liberty Records merged with United Artists.
LISTEN: HOT TAMALES | HOLLYWOOD JAIL | ENTANGLEMENTBLUESBERRY JAM
In April of ’68, Kenny met Al Walton and immediately formed Bluesberry Jam. Bluesberry Jam was initially managed by Shep Gordon, who had Bluesberry Jam open for Alice Cooper at a gig in Alice’s hometown of Pheonix, AZ. Shep also secured a record deal for Blueberry Jam with Decca Records.
LISTEN: TRAIN #74 | GET IT TOGETHER | BORN IS A MAN | YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOIN | PEOPLE | POUND OF FEATHERS | GUITAR BLUESMr. Stress Blues Band
Upon leaving high school, Kenny moved to the east side of Cleveland, working at the renowned folk rock club, La Cave where he met local (now legendary) blues man, Bill Miller of the Mr. Stress Blues Band. Kenny played with the Mr. Stress Blues Band for a year, including an engagement at La Cave. They recorded 5 tunes in late 1967.
Around that same time, Kenny met Pacific Gas & Electric guitar player Glenn Schwartz at a jam session at La Cave. Shortly thereafter, Glenn had moved to California, and encouraged Kenny to come to Los Angeles.
LISTEN: CHICKEN SHACK | SO MANY DAYS
YouTube