Not many contemporary musicians cite Cab Calloway as a main influence, but you can count Jamie Kent as one of the few and the proud: “His stage presence and audience control is second to none,” says the young Valley musician. “And it’s something I’ve really taken to heart as I develop our live show.”
Kent first became involved in music over a decade ago through musical theater. He studied voice, then attended Babson College to study entrepreneurship while continuing at The New England Conservatory during the evenings. He points out that while he’s been schooled in singing, he’s self-taught on guitar, ukulele, and conga drums.
The live show for his self-described “funky acoustic trio” usually consists of Kent along with Tim Boucher on piano and melodica and Rhees Williams on upright bass. For bigger shows he brings in sax player Emily Duff and drummer Keith Laudieri.
“When I first began playing out, The Options really were a revolving cast of excellent players that changed nightly,” Kent says. “Over the last year or so the name has evolved to represent something more along the lines of stock options—a few fantastic musicians have invested in my music, and I’ve invested in them.”
When Kent talks about investing, he means investing cash through “The Collective,” a Kickstarter-type financial support team concept he developed. The idea came to him after he spent six months researching the music industry.
“I realized that so many artists were stuck in a Catch 22,” he explains. “They can’t afford to pursue their art full-time, so they wait tables or bartend and play music at night. The notion that everyone has their own collective is a simple one, but I’ll tell you what—it’s allowed me to pursue my music full-time for the last year.”
So far The Collective consists of just over 100 partners who weigh in on everything from album artwork and song order for his recent release Neoteny to choosing the first single. Kent says the next challenge is convincing people who have never heard of him to become partners in The Collective.
The album The Collective helped fund is named for a term for an organism that, while physically mature, still exhibits adolescent characteristics.
“It represents myself and the music I write,” he says. “My producer Wes Talbot and I really worked to create a sound both complex and playful; something that makes people smile, but also keeps them on their toes.”
Jamie Kent & The Options plays the Iron Horse Saturday April 9. For more, visit http://jamiekent.com.
