Kevin Gastonguay is an active keyboardist/ composer/ arranger/ instructor in the Twin Cities area. Pursuing Piano Performance brought him to McNally-Smith College Of Music, but it was the viability of the music scene that kept him here. Early in his collegiate career, his jazz combo, through excellence and a clear demonstration of unadulterated talent, won the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Jazz Festival in both 2008 and 2009 performing Kevin’s original compositions, that have since gone on to critical acclaim via Minneapolis’ own Jazz88 FM. Throughout his tenure at McNally-Smith, he played with the several groups. In particular, The Power Of Music, through which he worked extensively with Grammy® Award-winning producer & engineering giant, Andre Fischer, as well as Craig Rice, former manager of Prince, Bobby Brown & Whitney Houston, garnered a great deal of respect from all across the Twin Cities music collective. In addition to all of this, he was tasked by the college to perform with Sheila E. & Joe Lovano for their respective, in-house master-classes conducted at McNally-Smith....
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Kevin Gastonguay is an active keyboardist/ composer/ arranger/ instructor in the Twin Cities area. Pursuing Piano Performance brought him to McNally-Smith College Of Music, but it was the viability of the music scene that kept him here. Early in his collegiate career, his jazz combo, through excellence and a clear demonstration of unadulterated talent, won the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Jazz Festival in both 2008 and 2009 performing Kevin’s original compositions, that have since gone on to critical acclaim via Minneapolis’ own Jazz88 FM. Throughout his tenure at McNally-Smith, he played with the several groups. In particular, The Power Of Music, through which he worked extensively with Grammy® Award-winning producer & engineering giant, Andre Fischer, as well as Craig Rice, former manager of Prince, Bobby Brown & Whitney Houston, garnered a great deal of respect from all across the Twin Cities music collective. In addition to all of this, he was tasked by the college to perform with Sheila E. & Joe Lovano for their respective, in-house master-classes conducted at McNally-Smith.
Outside of academia is where Gastonguay developed a reputation as one of the most prolific pianists to ever grace the Twin Cities. Whilst playing piano for the Valleyfair Stage Band in the summer of 2007 covering mainly soul classics from the early days, he discovered a great affinity for multitudes of styles of composition; seeing through the lines of genre & bridging the gap between lack of stylistic unity. Between 2007 & 2008, his original jazz-fusion group, Sol Spectre, played massive music festivals such as Wakarusa Music Festival (Ozark, Arkansas) and the locally-renowned, currently defunct, 10,000 Lakes Music Festival (Detroit Lakes, MN) to uproarous accolade. He later participated in the Sioux Falls Jazz Festival Of 2009 and the Twin Cities Jazz Festival Of 2010, both of which further gathered him respect as a musician & a brilliant mind. He can be seen regularly at St. Gerard’s Catholic Church in Brooklyn Park, MN, and at many of the great Twin Cities venues such as the Artist Quarter, The Dakota Jazz Club, The Acadia, Whiskey Junction, and The Cabooze. He has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with internationally-known musicians such as 1990′s R&B icon, Alexander O’neal, Andres Prado, Andre Cymone (Prince), Chris Berry (Panjea), and Paris Bennett (American Idol), lest we forget the great work he has done with some of the best musicians around the Twin Cities including Kevin Washington, Jay Young, Chance Howard (The Time), Sonny Thompson, Michael Bland, numerous other Prince affiliates, and so many more. Topping off his career to date, was just recently in 2011, where he played for an audience of over 10,000 people opening for the Black Eyed Peas in Minot, North Dakota…
Kevin continues to proactively teach piano lessons through the Minnesota Valley Conservatory Of Music since August of 2009, percussion lessons at the Aspen Academy Charter School in Prior Lake, MN since 2010, and Modern Day Music in St. Paul, Minnesota since 2011.
Featuring:
Kevin Gastonguay – Piano
Zacc Harris – Guitar
Greg Schutte – Drums
Andrew Bergmann – Bass
https://soundcloud.com/kevin-gastonguay
https://twitter.com/Kgastonguay
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