Centre culturel francophone - Kynkayd

W. 7th Ave., between Granville and Hemlock
Vancouver, BC
WEB: http://www.kynkayd.com/
www.lecentreculturel.com
Reviewed: October 10, 2003

Reviewed by: Ian Moore and Sherri Smith,
Additional comments by Caesi Bevis and Martin Chow

Kynkayd is a six-piece jazz/ funk fusion band; we found the music accessible and enjoyable. Veterans of the Side Door will remember Kynkayd from their former weekly gig there, and they’ve been seen at the Jazz Festival and various venues around town for the past couple of years.

All six band members contribute to composition writing that feature steady rhythms, lively beats, and lots of crescendos and horn runs. Toe tapping and head bobbing are a “must”, and dancing here was an easy option, although off to the side. Two horns, guitar, bass, drums, and a busy keyboard produced a tight, balanced, and powerful sound that demanded our attention.

The presence of the university crowd suggests nothing so vulgar as to offend a discerning music fan, and with the right DJ in the mix, for breaks, Kynkayd might turn on a larger crowd still at a much larger venue.

The six-piece band includes a trumpet, trombone, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, and organ.

Kynkayd expects to release its first CD in the near future.

Additional comments from Caesi and Martin:

We dropped in following covering the VSO - Big Band night down at the Orpheum. We arrived at “break time” around 10:30 and waited through what seemed like an “endless” break - something like 45 minutes - to hear the band, as we had heard good things from Sherri and Ian about them. Ian and Sherri left; Martin and I stayed after the break for about a half a song. About half of their audience bailed during the break, it seemed.

We agreed with Ian and Sherri’s assessment that the band is very good - but they should have a much larger venue, or tone down the volume! Having come from a loud VSO concert, we were surprised how much more painfully loud this band was in this small cozy space. It may just be too many instruments for such a small space. The Centre holds maybe 100 people theatre style. While it is an awesome venue for events like Festival Vancouver, it just didn’t showcase KynKayd as well as it could have with more square footage.

We would be very open to reviewing them again, in a more appropriately sized venue. The performers, all young 20 somethings, are no doubt are on their way to dynamic careers as awesome musicians. But, we do recommend some form of earplugs for ear protection, if they play here again. We couldn’t stay - it was just way too loud for us.