About Kurt
With the release of his third CD, Heart, Mind & All, Kurt Henry demonstrates his rapid evolution “through folk, jazz, latin and quasi-Caribbean styles into his own distinctly American sound”(Roll). He lives in the Hudson Valley, where in addition to playing music he has for two years hosted a regional songwriter’s night. In spite of a busy schedule, he has been involved with youth programs such as ArtsTeach, which won him an honorary New York State Educator of Excellence Award.
In person he shakes up the stage without taking a breath between songs. Believe that he has something to prove. A pacifist, he’s been described by different reviewers as a warrior. His mission is to strike with meaning, elegance and infectious rhythm – to show that a band with great heart can make the ground quake. And this band doesn’t miss a beat.
In various bands, as guitarist/singer/bandleader, Kurt has opened shows for over 100 internationally known acts including Procol Harum, The Byrds, Asleep at the Wheel, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, etc. Kurt has jammed on stage with David Bromberg, Artie Traum, Rick Danko, Chuck Berry, Jay Ungar, John Herald and others. Some recent venues include The Linda Norris Auditorium (WAMC’s “Dancing on the Air”), The Towne Crier, The Bearsville Theatre and Saratoga’s Café Lena.
About Heart, Mind & All
Heart, Mind & All are the three essences Kurt Henry has used to build new songworlds for his audiences since his debut performance at The Village Gaslight, in Greenwich Village in 1968.
Consider the opening track, “The Cuckoo and the Nightingale.” The mind in this songworld struggles to balance the concerns of the heart with the urgencies of eros. The nightingale of the title is pure heart, the cuckoo is pure eros. In the driving choruses we discover that there is no contradiction between mind and body.
Mind is at the helm of the album’s second track, “The Ties That Blind”— a sea journey in which two lovers escape from the world of broken promises and mindless obligations to seek a longed for utopia. Secured in the hold of their battered ship is a treasure which doubles as a compass pointing them to the new world where heart, mind & all flourish in harmony—a harmony felt in the warm vocal duet of Kurt and Cheryl.
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“Each of these songs is a world.”
— Eric Parker, producer of Heart, Mind & All
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Elements can be artfully unbalanced. The world of “Sunchild” is dominated by heart, which is always ascendant when broken. A more playful tension in “Julia The Compleat Angler” is caused by the urgency of eros, which infuses the teasing games of two lovers who cunningly bait their hooks while dancing brave escapes.
The title song “Heart, Mind & All,” which Kurt acknowledges is a tribute to Carlos Santana, is also a pathway into a fantasy world of courtly love. Coming out of the shadows, heart competes for an all-consuming erotic pearl that is beyond its social reach. A desperate adventurer provokes fate as the festival fires illuminate his dagger in the darkness. Black velvet and pearl, firelight and shadow.
In these and the other worlds, Kurt and producer Eric Parker have deftly augmented the band. The regulars—Eric Parker (Steve Winwood, Joe Cocker), drums; Alan Groth, bass; Cheryl Lambert, vocals and percussion; and Kurt, guitars, harmonica—are joined by David Sancious (Sting, Santana, Springsteen), keyboards; Harvey Kaiser (Sonny Stitt), saxophones; Larry Packer (Lou Reed, Phoebe Snow), violin, viola, mandolin; and Larry Balestra, percussion. The production has synergy and sparkle. The organic rhythms make the listening a real groove that smoothly traverses the landscapes of Heart, Mind & All.
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