Curtis King - LIVE!: Press

 Curtis King was featured in the cover article of the March 2010 edition of "The Word - Ho Chi Minh City".

 

 

 

The Curtis King Band was recently described as a "Stand out band" in a recent review of Kingsworld's "Rock in Asia" CD. (See CDs tab.)

Front page article and photo:

"The [Rock in Asia] CD ends with a stand-out track - "Take My Hand (A Song of Hope for the Victims of Agent Orange)" by the Curtis King Band (based in Vietnam), featuring a Chinese zither jamming in a rock band. The heart-wrenching tune ends with a powerful grand finale - with blues-inspired guitar licks, haunting yet joyous zither chords, and Shanghai-based Matthew 'Cadillac' Cooper's bursting vocals."

The band got radio airplay in Denmark, featuring "Born Under a Bad Sign".

CABLE 89,0 MHZ
Kjell Andreassen
February 12, 2008
www.RadioHolstebro.dk

"American guitarist and music producer Curtis King has been living and working in Viet Nam since 2003. Besides collaborating with overseas giants like Sony, King started bringing Vietnamese entertainment to the rest of the world through projects with Galaxy Studio, HCM City’s leading film production and distribution group."

Carrying the slogan "Paint the Town Jazz", JakJazz 2007 is ready to shake up Jakarta with three days of jazz music, starting this Friday.... "Since I'm from Ohio, I play rock and roll jazz," Curtis King told reporters. Now living in Vietnam, he said he would blend jazz and Chinese music in some of his works.

This was definitely one of the best performances at JakJazz 2007 that I saw. Curtis collaborated with a top class young saxophonist from Singapore (Dr. Hi Tone Benson) and also a female guest star (Ms. Zhang Nan) who played the traditional Chinese zither. It was a fantastic collaboration of fine music.

[About "Take My Hand (A Song of Hope for the Victims of Agent Orange)"]... "King's warm rasping vocal suits this slow burning anthem that has echoes of U2. The man himself provides some very tasty Eric Clapton flavoured guitar joined by the glorious sound of a 21 string zither from Zhang Nan."

[And about Kingsworld's "Rock in Asia" CD]... What counts here are memorable melodies, strong hooks and a catchy chorus. The standard of musicianship is high... it's given me a great deal of listening pleasure over the past few weeks and I really couldn't ask for much more from a CD."

"Cool and stylish, always out with actresses and models, Curtis King, 39 years old, lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. Anyone who sees him believes he’s a playboy. But this American guy is a loner... "my only love is the guitar, since the age of 4."

"Take my hand, I'll help you stand" - these American lyrics have touched Vietnam. "Take My Hand" has brought many people to tears.

“Blues comes naturally for Mr. King – ‘Blues, similar to some Oriental music, is based on simple musical scales, and requires feeling and expression while maintaining simplicity. When playing blues, emotion overrides logic and thought.’ (King has been adding Vietnamese instruments, like the “dan trang”, to his recent recordings, resulting in an interesting mix of blues and Eastern music.)”

“The Curtis King Band is one of the best known bands around town, not least for its ability to straddle different music genres with ease. If you think a rock outfit like the Curtis King Band and jazz music make strange bedfellows, wait till you hear them throw in hip hop, oldies and big band tunes for good measure.”

An American businessman, Curtis King, has written a song about Agent Orange victims to raise awareness about the affliction and raise money for medical treatment.

King, who runs the entertainment company Kingsworld Management (Singapore) Ltd, has written "Take my hand: A song of hope for the victims of Agent Orange."

"The Agent Orange issue is really the last major unresolved issue between the US and Viet Nam. We have a chance now to finally settle the issue, to lay to rest the war, and move forward as economic partners in the twenty-first century," King said.

He's a performer who thrives on innovation and experimentation... [The Curtis King Band] has moved from jazzy blues through picturesque soulful soundscapes to bare knuckle rock-and-roll and back again.

Curtis rolled in from a gig in Hanoi just in time. The Band was tight and had Curtis not made it, the show would have gone on. Real pros! As the EDC [Cambodia Electric Company] switched the grid around 11:45PM, we lost power. Well the drummer kept the beat going and horns blared and the power came back on and the band chimed in with out missing a beat. Awesome!

“Clevelanders Matthew “Cadillac” Cooper and Curtis “King” Kovach are blazing an R&B trail through Asia. There’s a lowdown, nitty-gritty, boogie-woogie, honky-tonk vibe working its mojo from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to Shanghai in China, thanks to two ramblin’ blues guitarists from the Rock and Roll Capital of the World.”

“If you’re tired of same-same [cover] bands at bars proclaiming nightly live music, this Rock ‘n’ Roll band is a gourmet dish added to routine “boring meals .”

“This native Cleveland rock ‘n’ roller combines soulful vocals, 30 years of guitar playing, cool harmonica riffs, and audience conducting skills, all to get everyone in the house jumping to the groove.”

“Two sons of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Capital of the World – Matthew “Cadillac” Cooper and Curtis “King” Kovach – are
keeping it funky in the Far East.”

"The connection between the jazz and blues camps of Saigon can be found in Curtis, Vietnam's purveyor of harmonica and guitar-driven blues."