Randell K. CD

Since his formative years, Randell K Wakefield realized that he and music would make a perfect fit. Finding it challenging to recognize life’s virtues while they were present, he was drawn to music and the immediate pleasures it was able to generate. Though he didn’t understand the degree of his passion when he first started piano lessons as a child, his intuitive gifts flourished as he learned to play almost exclusively by ear.He attended the Los Angeles High School for the Arts where he performed in various in-demand ensembles, including the renown Vocal Jazz group. One of the star members of the jazz ensemble, the group won top honors in the Monterey Jazz Festivals’ high school competition among countless other achievements. By the time he was eighteen, Randell K. was practically a veteran performer playing various high-profile venues such as the Vine Street Bar & Grill and sharing the stage with performers as celebrated as the Manhattan Transfer. Music has been an area in which he’s been able to chart a definite growth, a clear learning curve. Songwriting has been his attempt to combine his refined musical chops with his ever-broadening, idiosyncratic point of view. Beyond this stated goal, though, it’s often tricky for him to classify his own music. The piano immediately invites comparisons to piano-based, singer-songwriter pop circa-1970’s, but jazz, R&B, and just about every form of post-20th century music informs what he plays as well. He simply sees his music as an extension of what pop music has always been, a distinctive hybrid of pre-existing forms existing beneath a broad range of influences. Simple categorization often seems futile. But this diversification has enabled him to collaborate with an array of musical talents. In conceiving his CD he was privileged to be produced by people with different but very extensive musical backgrounds. Keg Johnson and William Zimmerman are both pioneering producers who’ve collectively worked with the likes of Will Smith, Levert, L.L. Cool J, The Spinners, The Whispers, Gladys Knight. Kevin Toney, one of the original Blackbirds, has gone on to become an internationally celebrated jazz pianist. All three have put their distinctive marks on Randell K’s tracks. Always one for refining himself, Randell has put in some time collaborating with other acts to stretch his musicianship in addition to doing solo gigs in support of his own work. He’s been gigging exclusively at venues in and around L.A including the Gardenia, the V-20 (piano room), the Vermont, D’Antonio’s, the Catalina Bar and Grill and was a featured performer at the Los Angeles Annual African Market Place Festival in addition to other outdoor concerts.