Last week I focused on Kevin’s Knelman’s Beatles music. But there is so much more! He is a 2-time cancer survivor. He’s performed all over the world- North America, South America and Asia, to name a few places. He accompanied Malka Marom (a folk singer) for 10 years, travelling the world. He wrote the scripts and the original music for the Polka Dot Door “live,” which was the travelling version of the TV show. Then he played guitar in all the live shows everywhere in Canada including annual gigs at places like the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition Toronto) and the Tulip festival (Ottawa).
I’ve been close with Kevin and his wife, Jennifer Knelman, for over a decade now. Jennifer helped me immensely with my ear training for my exams. I always thought I had ‘bad ears’ until she showed me how to use them properly! A few years later I ended up teaching in their home studio, until she helped me to build up my own. It has definitely been a life changing experience knowing these two wonderful people!
I would sometimes go visit Jen & Kevin, always arriving early so I could fit in some time in Kevin’s recording studio! He has a soundproof room, where he records and edits all his music on Pro Tools- a state of the art program. We would listen to as many songs as we had time to before dinner, with a glass of red wine in hand. We’d always start with any new songs he had worked on, and then work our way back from there. I only heard the same song twice if it was requested by me. He must have hundreds of songs on there, with a huge range of styles. It was always a thrilling adventure! Here’s an example of one such song ‘Ain’t No Map’.
As with every musician, I have to ask- where did it all begin?
For Kevin, it was when he was 10 years old. Louis Spritzer, a classical guitar teacher, was renting a room in his home. Kevin would fall asleep every night listening to Louis practice. He took lessons with his ‘in-house’ guitar teacher, but had to move to England after only 6 months of lessons. While he was there, he had access to a ton of blues records. These records inspired Kevin. He wanted to play like those artists, so he taught himself by listening to the riffs over and over until he figured them out… scratching a whole lot of records this way!
Lonnie Donegan was a star when Kevin lived in England, so he and a few friends formed a skiffle band. Skiffle is a musical genre with influences from jazz, blues, and American folk music. It’s generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Kevin’s band included a tea chest bass, a tooth and comb player, banjo, spoons, and of course guitar. While it only lasted about 6 months, they had a ton of fun with it. Even if they only played in his living room! Kevin’s mom had a friend who was a flamenco guitarist, who showed him a thing or two. Kevin would sit and listen to him in awe.
Here’s a link to some skiffle music by Lonnie Donegan, in case you don’t know what it is (like me, before writing this). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI4nRD-DRpk
After moving back to Canada at 16-years-old, Kevin started a rock band. He asked his Dad for lessons again, and was set up with a teacher, Eli Kassner. Kevin wasn’t even able to read music when he started with Eli! But soon Eli started passing along a few students for Kevin to teach- so beginning his teaching experience. After 3 years with Eli, he was ready for his audition at the University of Toronto (which he passed!).
But instead of going to university, Kevin chose a different path. At 19-years-old, he left to go tour with Malka. While on tour in Curaçao in the mid-70’s, they once ended up feasting at the Mayor’s house with the entire crew of the Tarzan movie (minus Tarzan himself), which was being filmed there at the time.
Kevin composed a gorgeous string quartet ‘Requiem,’ which was performed at Caledon Chamber Concert Series, by the Cecilia String Quartet. A string quartet consists of 4 string instruments, so it takes some pretty intricate compositional skills to make this work. Have a listen here!
He has written piano duets for his wife’s students, which they performed and won competitions with. Pretty impressive for a guitarist to write prize winning compositions for piano!
Check out Kevin’s arrangement of Classical Gas:
Since he was a child, Kevin’s life has been vibrant with music. Whether he is performing, composing, teaching, or just playing for himself- music fills his life.