This track had me from the first note. Kait Dunton is the real deal. So much emotion is poured into this song. On Spotify, this is her most popular tune, currently almost 3 million spins. So I’m not the only one with the opinion that this song is worth the listen. I actually found Kait Dunton through a Facebook story that was suggested to me. Perhaps Facebook knows I’m a sucker for good piano chops. Well, Facebook got this one right, I was completely happy with their choice to spam me at that moment. So much so, I immediately went to her page and listened to her songs for a the rest of the work day.
“Real & Imagined” starts out with an emotional piano solo piece for about the first 2 minutes of the 7 ½ minute song. Just a simple piano riff, laying the groundwork for what was going to come after. As the piano moves from the treble down to more the bass clef, the song begins to pick up tempo. The drums come in with a light touch on the ride and a nice shuffle groove as the piano and drummer weave around the time signature. The bass is introduced as the trio really fall into a great groove.
For me, the piece really expresses itself at around the 5-minute mark. I could listen to this part of the song for hours. Kait crushes this piano solo for almost a minute straight. The piano solo slides into a groove with the drummer and they lock in one more time. As the shift of the rhythm and drive of the groove turns to Kait on the piano, the drummer takes his turn at voicing some tasteful solo chops to take the song to the end of the ride.
An amazing groove and amazing way to take the song out.
About the Artist
KAIT DUNTON is a Los Angeles based composer & pianist with an unconventional approach to composition and to the piano trio, best expressed by her genre-pushing super group, trioKAIT. Kait’s innovative compositions shuffle wide-ranging influences into a refreshingly modern take on instrumental music that is as uncategorizable as it is infectious.
Kait has produced and released five albums of original compositions, with a sixth featuring her inventive arranging style. Her latest album, Planet D’earth, reached #9 on the JazzWeek radio charts, and was featured on Tom Schnabel’s KCRW Rhythm Planet playlist. DownBeat awarded 4.5 stars to Kait’s latest trio album, trioKAIT 2, writing that “Dunton brings a Technicolor sensibility to everything she touches.” In 2017, trioKAIT Casual reached #5 on the Jazz Week radio charts, while her debut album, Real & Imagined, continues to draw fans, now with nearly 2 million streams on Spotify. Her third record, trioKAIT, made the Huffington Post’s list of “The Best Jazz for 2015”.
