I recently had the opportunity to sit down with each of the guys from DMS and talk about their history with music and how that's translated into the music they make today. I asked each of the guys the same set of questions and let them just run away with the conversation. Thank goodness for Zoom and the ability to record, so I could gather it all. It was great to get to know them a little better and see how their different approaches and personalities contribute to their music!
To meet Darrelle is to feel an infectious energy that is both creative and positive. I called him the hype man in the title of this post because he is just that. If you ask him about his Forrest and Kenny, he has nothing but positive praise for both of them. He has this way of making you believe in yourself and what you are capable of because he truly believes in himself and his abilities. He doesn’t want anyone to feel left out. A random, passing conversation with Darrelle about the phenomenon of Hamilton triggered the domino effect that led to me getting to know, working with, and truly appreciating the friendship and creative genius that is Dynamic Media Services. That conversation was the first step to this blog existing and the amazing work that is yet to come! So without further ado, let me introduce you to Darrelle Kennedy.
Darrelle was born into an extremely talented family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His mother performed and won at The Apollo when she was just 18 years old. His eldest brother, and the one Darrelle describes as the most talented of the family, performed for the Metropolitan Opera. Another brother was a renowned actor best known for his performance in the movie Glory. He shared that his brother Thomas, a former police officer, also has an amazing singing voice that he kept under wraps for years (hopefully, he’ll have some great music to share in the near future). So what does an 8 year old kid who comes from this amazing pool of talent and feels distant from his public school peers do? He grabs an instrument bigger than himself and plays his way into the North Carolina School of the Arts in 7th grade. He wanted to follow in his big brothers footsteps, never mind the fact that they went there for college. He knew that he had to be at least as good as the best musicians coming out of the School of the Arts, so he spent all his free time practicing. He talked about his dad having to pick him up from school and the neck of his bass hanging out the car window, just so he could practice at home. By the time Darrelle was ready to graduate high school at age 16, he had been offered a scholarship to Howard University to play in their elite Jazz Band where he learned from and played with such greats as Michael Bearden, Tim Warfield, and Wynton Marsalis. He speaks fondly of his time at Howard.
At the end of his second year at Howard, Darrelle's father fell ill, and Darrelle came home to Winston-Salem. After his father's passing, he went to his hometown HBCU, Winston-Salem State University, and asked Dr. Tanner for a spot on the Jazz Band, which is how he met the crew: Abdullah Rahman (Drummer), Charles Turner (Trombone), Forrest McFeeters (Trumpet), and Kenny Harris (Trombone). Not only did they play gigs together around town, they also did some touring. Winston-Salem is known as the City of the Arts, and he remembers going downtown to see live shows with his guys, including the YellowJackets. With an air of excitement, he recalled being blown away by how close their live sound was to their recordings. During that time, he said he took a commercial music course and decided that he wanted to branch out from the classical and jazz scenes. He, Forrest, and Kenny formed their group and became known as Art of Progression Productions, Art Pro, for short. They started recording songs at some guy's house. He even talked about a time that he and Forrest traveled to New York to try and get a record deal, but that is such a great story it deserves its own space! When I asked Darrelle what his favorite song of theirs is, he immediately responded with the song that was created on that trip, "Make It Funky for Me." He picked that song, he said, because of its inception and how it encompasses everything they've gone through in trying to make it in the music business. With a smile, he recounted the conversation between him and Forrest talking about they needed to write a song about the city. The song is so much fun and definitely gives the feel of late 80s-early 90s New York dance feel with its dance beat, chord progressions, and strong line. I keep trying to talk them into releasing it, so hopefully everyone will get to hear it soon!
When I asked Darrelle about his musical influences and the DMS creative process, he had a lot to say. Darrelle has an eclectic playlist. His early influences were the Jackson 5, the BeeGees, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Chicago, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gay, and Sly and the Family Stone. His favorite decade of music is still the 1970s, with Disco being one of his favorite genres. He describes Disco as a Soulful Symphony that uses nearly all of the instruments, strings, brass, and electric instruments. And if you're ever lucky enough to be around when he's listening to Disco, you will see him air play all of those instruments at once. Kenny and Forrest both agreed that Darrelle is the one of them who continues to watch the evolution of music, finding useful elements in contemporary pieces the others would not know existed. Darrelle is emphatic that "music is always going to change" and he looks for ways to keep the influence of the music they've always loved and adapt it to what is current. He says his focus is to maintain their core sound and find that commercial spark. He calls himself an ideas guy and states that lyrics need a melodic feel that tells a story without being overly complicated. That's one of the things he loves best about Forrest's lyrics; there is a story he can visualize.
The last thing we talked about was his thoughts on the music business and the trajectory for DMS. He stated that where he is now in life, in his 50s, he understands that the business has changed and that they need to branch out into other musical ventures. He is all in and believes they can take the music all the way. He says the struggle they are having is adapting, but if they can bridge the gap between their core sounds and musical prowess with what is popular now and finding additional ventures, they'll be unstoppable. He also told me that he truly believes the forthcoming musical, Storyville: A BlueBook Chronicle, will be the best showcase for their music because all of the songs are original and a demonstration of their full catalog. I can't wait for him to be proven right because what I've heard thus far is amazing!
