Kasey Ball Productions
Kasey Ball Productions is the brainchild of Louisiana Soul and Jazz musician Kasey Ball. A Slidell, Louisiana native, Kasey’s primary musical influences come from his experiences and residency as a working musician in Louisiana. As a musician and composer, there are clear lines of musical influences from jazz, blues, soul, funk, salsa, afro-Cuban, and occasionally even classical music traditions.
A graduate of Louisiana State University with both a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Business Administration, Mass Communication, and Music and Master of Music in Jazz Studies, Kasey has spent more than fifteen years performing, teaching, arranging, recording, and leading ensembles throughout the Gulf South and beyond. His career has included work as a horn arranger and performer for Grammy-nominated vocalist Quiana Lynell, horn section leader for Louisiana blues legend Kenny Neal and Tito Jackson of The Jackson 5, music director and featured artist for an ensemble in Ecuador, and collaborator with artists across Louisiana's jazz, blues, soul, brass band, and songwriter communities.
After years of freelance work and bandleading throughout New Orleans and Greater Baton Rouge, Kasey founded KB Productions with the intention of creating meaningful musical experiences while building opportunities for collaboration among the many artists who inspire him. His original projects range from acoustic jazz and chamber ensembles to soul bands, fusion groups, New Orleans brass bands, and cross-genre collaborations.
Kasey's compositions are intentionally crafted for flexible performance formats — from electric band and big band to chamber octet and New Orleans style brass band. Many pieces are designed to easily spotlight different soloists, which makes them ideal for collaborative performances or rotating guest artists. His masterclasses also reflect this flexibility — combining practical topics like instrument doubling and improvisation with deeper compositional / arrangement insight and real world application.
Original Music:
Don't Call Me Ruby - KB & The Backbeat
KB & the Backbeat is a New Orleans influenced Soul Band founded by horn player Kasey Ball. The title track, "Don't Call Me Ruby," is an homage to his grandmother who supported him in his choice of a musical career, and who also had hundreds of nicknames as she detested her real first name.
The first track, "Uncle Bernie Meets Miss Marcia," features Eric 'Uncle Bernie' Bernhardt on tenor saxophone. It is inspired by Bernie's harmonically technical arrangements, improvisational skills, and Kasey's fascination when he heard him play with blues singer and pianist Marcia Ball (no relation). It is a composition that incorporates these two musicians' vastly different styles.
"Make It Do What It Does" was influenced by Kasey's longtime friend and band leader KB Bonus. The chorus: "make it do what it does till it does something else" is a direct quote from him. It has become a mantra for Kasey not only during hard times, but it also lets people know it is okay to be themselves.
Kasey Ball is a Louisiana native. He began playing music at the age of seven and has his M.M. in Jazz Studies from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He has performed with numerous local artists, event bands, and touring acts for the last fifteen years. His studies have encompassed jazz, soul, classic bebop, funk, and Latin rhythms. He has also performed in Ecuador, representing the state with the outreach group Ecos Latinos. This is his first EP of original Louisiana Soul inspired compositions.
KB & the Backbeat is Kasey Ball on vocals, trumpet and flugelhorn, Eric Bernhardt on tenor sax, Garret Howell on guitar, Eric Stewart on bass, and Aaron Walker on drums with backing vocals by Ben Bryan, Garrett Howell, Eric Stewart, and Alex D'Onofrio. Arrangers are Kasey Ball, Alex D'Onofrio, Eric Stewart, Garrett Howell, and Aaron Walker.
The EP was recorded at Muse and Maker Studios. Engineer is Ben Bryan. Producers are Kasey Ball and Ben Bryan.
Double Feature EP
This is my first ep as a solo artist, and this is the first of many in a series of collaborations with various artists from around the globe who have inspired me to become who I am today.
"The Grace of Time"
This song features the vocal talent and poetry of Arlee Leonard. She and I met while on tour together in Ecuador and became fast and lasting friends. I composed this melody one wistful evening and reached out to Arlee for poetry. I was so moved by her lyrics I felt she must be the first performer of the composition, and I was fortunate enough to get her parents in the studio with her for an intimate chorus of spoken word echoes and an inimitable closure to this peaceful opus.
"B.B.B"
On the other side of the spectrum, this one is red-hot! Featuring the electrifying trumpet stylings of Mark Zauss and firebreathing percussion of Fernando Lima, this composition is heavily influenced by the Afro-Cuban and Salsa traditions.
Single: Still Standing
This composition features Robert Ramson on the saxophone. It is a peaceful and yearning melody meant to evoke the feeling of living in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Although I lived in Slidell at the time, my life was never quite the same after the storm, and I have tried to be grateful my own suffering was minimal.
In the years I have worked with Rob, I have always been blown away by his sincerity and ability to be in the moment. Once I had written this song, I knew he was the person whose spirit could push it to a higher height. We spoke, and I asked him what message he wanted to share with the world. He said, "We're still standing."