CHATHAM BORN FLAUTIST JEF KEARNS IS FEATURED ALL THIS WEEK IN THE #SPOTLIGHT – HEARD DAILY AT 9:30AM DURING XS MORNINGS WITH JAY & ROBYN!
Jef Kearns is a world renowned flautist born in Chatham!
An Amazon best-selling Canadian solo artist Jef Kearns is transforming the flute from a background instrument to a serious soul voice in R&B and hip-hop. His goal, even from an early age, was to create a distinct and instantly identifiable flute sound with enough presence to command attention—just like an R&B singer’s voice.
Jef’s cover of Warren G‘s “Regulate” was featured in XXL Magazine’s “20 Covers of Hip-Hop Songs Using Instruments.” And his cover of Kanye West‘s “Slow Jamz” in Mashable’s “14 Bizzarely Awesome Rap Cover Videos.”
Over his two decades as a professional musician, Jef has built what would be considered an impressive online following for any independent artist. His YouTube channel has exceeded 1.46 million views. For a solo flute player it’s unprecedented. Kearns’ professionally produced discography includes two full albums, Soulfisticated, and On the Level, an EP called The Flute, and eight stand-alone singles.
Jef’s 2020 EP, Jazzy AF, released in 2020 was touted by popular music critique site Divide and Conquer as “a blend of sounds that creates a soundscape that listeners can easily get lost in. Not merely an instrumental album, Jazzy AF sees the artist mixing genres and creating a new sound. Kearns’ command of the instrument is unmistakable.” The release also hit #1 chart position on renowned Jazziz Magazine’s listener-voted new release chart “Inside Track.” His follow-up single Hazy hit #77 in the Top 100 RnB and Soul charts on iTunes Norway in 2021.
Kearns follows up his recent single Hazy (#77 on Norway’s iTunes Top 100 Soul and RnB Chart and Top 10 on the UK Soul Chart) with a modernized take on Leon Haywood‘s 1974 release, “I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You.”
“Like many, I knew this song growing up as Dr. Dre‘s sample on ‘Nothing But a G Thang’ but I recently dug deeper on the source material,” Kearns says.
Jef’s flute performance sears with sexiness and serves as lightning to vocalist Alana Bridgewater‘s (Toronto’s production of We Will Rock You) thunderous amount of soul.
Jef enlisted the production genius of long time collaborator Douglas Romanow who threw a nod at the original with vintage keyboards from the 70s era but also drew from every era since with elements such as real vinyl scratching, live bass and a 90s inspired groove with modern production sounds.
Mastering by Grammy Award winner Randy Merrill (Silk Sonic’s Leave the Door Open) further elevates the track.
I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You is available now on all platforms
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