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| Stewart McKenzie (left) and David Burns (right) |
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| Wynton Marsalis once said that you might have good soup, but if you don't have the ruex, then you don't have gumbo. The McKenzie Burns Project has been reffered to as a musical gumbo because of its diverse influences, distinct flavor and relentless spice. If The Mckenzie Burns Project can be identified as the gambo, then co-producers Stewart Mckenzie and David Burns are clearly the ruex. |
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Like most kids in growing up in Maywood, just off Chicago's West Side, David Burns spent most of his days playing basketball on the same playgrounds that formed the careers of Isiah Thomas and Michael Finley. Unlike most kids, he spent his evenings in his basement, playing his drums along with his family's electric mix of music, which included artists as diverse as Charlie Parker, Parliament and Jimi Hendrix.
During high school, Burns created a hip hop group called M.D. The Group was one of the few in the Chicago area that not only composed their own music, but also fused modern technology with live instruments. |
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| During this time, he started playing keyboards and developed computer-based home studio. After high school, Burns began focusing
on R&B composition and in his spare time received an M.S. in computer
science. Burns attributes much of his musical production success to his
experience as a web site producer with IBM. |
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| Stewart Mckenzie also started his music career as a toddler when he began teaching himself
how to play drums. he wa born in Illinois, but grew up in the small town
of Dover, DE. Mckenzie was heavily influences by Motown, the Sound of Philadelphia,
and the various soul/funk ensemble of seventies. In his early teens, Mckenzie
started taking acoustic guitar lessons with intention of playing bass.
Once he made the switch, he ended up playing bass in several bands throughout
high school and college, and lost more money than he made! Nothing was
sacred: jazz, pop, funk, hard rock - he wanted to play it all. So, McKenzie
too ended up earning a Master's Degree to support his musical habit. |
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In 1997, McKenzie established one of the funkiest dabce bands on the east coast - The Soul Affair. The group performed a lot of soull favorites by James Brown, Earth Wind
& Fire, Marvin Gaye, the Ohio Players, etc., and was quickly becoming
a hot commodity in thr resort areas when McKenzie and Burns crossed paths.
The two met in the summer of 1999 in Washington, D.C., through Bill Law, a mutual friend who was stationed in Delaware with the Air Force. Burns recalls, "I grew up with Bill, so he was very familiar with my musical aspirations
to write and produce. He also knew that Stewart had the desire to write
and record so he set up a meeting figuring we might be able to help each
other out." McKenzie adds, "Later that fall, David sent me a CD with several songs he had writen for 'The David Burns Project.' Over the holidays, I hooked up with David and Bill to lay down some bass and guitar tracks for his project. It was supposed to be a simple favor, not a lofe-changing experience!" |
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Mckenzie and Burns both realized that they had found suitable musical partners
in each other and set out to find singers to record what was to eventually
become "The McKenzie Burns Project." Beause Mckenzie was still in Delaware, and Burns in Chicago, the
effort took a lot of time and a lot of air travel. In order to make original
music a priority and get the CD finished, McKenzie placed The Soul Affair
on hold, idenfinitely.
He claims, "It was very painful to keep a unit like that from performing. The band was talented enough to play anything, but I just felt that we were not doing ourselves justice by performing only as a cover band. I thought we all had so much more to say and contribute to the music world. So I decided to take a break from playing club scene and focus on the McKenzie Burns Project."
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When the CD was finally released, it was met with a lot of enthusiasm, critical acclaim and quickly made its way onto the R&B best-sellers list at CDbaby.com. That site alone opened up an international market for music , especially
in Japan and the UK. Without major distribution, the team also successfully
placed their music in large and small record stores in major cities across
the U.S. |
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One thing the team had not seriously considered while recording the CD was live performance. Not only was McKenzie still in Delaware, but the artists themselves were in Chicago and the east coast as well. "Our first gig in Chicago was going to be opening for Maysa Leak at
the Navy Pier Skyline Theater. It was a dream come true for our debut.
There was only one problem: we hadn't assembled a band!" recalls McKenzie. The experience that came from leading The Soul Affair
proved to be invaluable when it came time to form a live unit to bring
the Mckenzie Burns material to the stage. Luckily, musicians from Chicago,
New york, Philadelphia and members of The Soul Affair jumped at the chance
to participate in the Navy Pier performance as well as the group's CD release
party.
In early 2003, the airline industry received yet another blow when McKenzie
finaly moved to the Windy City so that the team could be more efficient
in production and performance. Now, The McKenzie Burns Project is hitting
the streets as one of Chicago's most entertaining, energetic and musically
deverse acts.
McKenzie and Burns found "Listen Up Records" and released a Soul
& Jazz compilation of underground Chicago artists, titled "Chicago
Soul Sessions, Vol.1," on Feb 1, 2005.
You'll enjoy every bit of their cool and beautiful performance, and deep
attachment to music.
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| Interview with McKenzie and Burns... |
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-When were you born ?
DAVID - NOVEMBER 23, 1970
STEWART - SEPTEMBER 23, 1966
-Is Listen Up Records your own record label?Please tell us more about
it.
STEWART: Yes, Listen Up is our
own Label. It was created when we decided that we would start putting out
compilation CDs featuring Chicago artists.The Chicago Soul Sessions is the
first release on the label.We anticipate featuring several other new acts,
including ourselves on the label.
-What do you consider the differences between "Chicago Soul Sessions
Vol.1" and The McKenzie Burns Project"?
DAVID: The McKenzie Burns Project was our first collaboration together
and was a showcase for our songwriting and production abilities.
The music on that CD is pretty varied in the sense that it has
elements of hip-hop, R&B, pop, Latin, and dance music. All
the songs on that CD were written by Stewart and me and were intended to
have a broad commercial appeal.The Chicago Soul Sessions is a compilation of
independent artists from Chicago and we only wrote a couple of tracks.Some
of the material, songs by Cherisse, Kevin Chandler, Chester Gregory and
one of ours, had been previously released. Also, the Sessions CD
has more of a focus in terms of musical genres and target audience.
-Is there a veteran artist you'd like to collaborate with?
STEWART: There are so many... it would be
everyone's dream to work with Stevie Wonder, but we probably wouldn't know where
to begin there!(laugh). Some of our favorite artists are Brian McKnight,
George Duke, Quincy Jones, Incognito, Earth Wind & Fire... the list goes
on.One singer that I personally would like to work with would be Maysa Leak -
she's the most recognizable voice of Incognito but also has her own solo career
happening.She is an incredible talent that, in my opinion, doesn't get the
recognition she deserves.
-Pease tell us about your next project.
DAVID: The next McKenzie Burns Project will probably be a hybrid of the first CD and the Chicago Soul Sessions.You can expect a lot more live instrumentation because we are working with a lot more musicians and artists since we released our debut CD.You can also expect some jazz & funk in the works from Kaialexander and a side project from Stewart in the near future.
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-Would you like to say anything for your fans all over the world?
BOTH - We would like to thank all the fans that have purchased
our music and told others about it, as well as those who take the
time to learn about what we're doing by visiting great sites such as yours
Soul Treasures! It's truly an honor to make music for all of you!
And we hope everybody will continue to support the great soul music made
by so many independent artists that are out there.
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| Discography |
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The McKenzie Burns Project
(US-CD, McKenzie Burns, 2003) |
featuring:
Chester Gregory - Zyanya - Derrick Holland - Joel Johnson Friendly
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Chicago Soul Sessions Vol.1
(US-CD, Listen Up, 2005) |
featuring:
Cherisse - Kevin Chandler Band - McKenzie Burns Project - Chester Gregory
- Kaialexander - Teddy Austin |
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Contact to:
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