Kaylene Peoples Music

Kaylene Peoples was a model and a former Miss California; she is a vocalist with a 5-octave range, a multi-instrumentalist, and a prolific composer/arranger/conductor. She graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Composition and Ethnomusicology, and received a Masters in Film Scoring under the direction of Academy Award-winner composer Walter Scharf . . . and she studied flute with prominent Hollywood session player Sheridan Stokes. She mentored with Academy Award-winner composers David Raksin and Henry Mancini; and has even played piano with Oscar winner, film composer Jerry Goldsmith. Kaylene has written and conducted countless string arrangements for record labels (Capitol Records, Polygram, Warner Bros., EMI, Elektra Records, and Universal/Republic). She has written neoclassical symphonies and composed and conducted a ten-Act ballet titled Apocalitica. Her orchestration skills can be heard on movie sound tracks, including American Pie 2, Serendipity, Ruby, and her own multi-award-winning feature film she wrote, directed, and scored titled Redemptionwhere she won Best First Time Director (HUFFY), Best Picture (Goldie Film Awards), and A Grand Jury Award (Florida Film Festival). She is also an award-winning L.A. Music Awards producer for Best R&B Album of the Year and Best New Artist Christina Fasano’s Spiritually Wet.

Kaylene’s first jazz album, All Jazzed Up!, made a splash across the nation when her single, “Do You Remember?” was played across the country. The single climbed to the top of the independent charts (AC40/NMW! Top 100 Chart/FMQB & ACQB!, and Indie 100 chart). Her CD, My Man, made quite an impression on jazz lovers throughout the airwaves and in concert. Since that 2015 release, she has repeatedly hit #1 on the Reverbnation Jazz chart, and remains in the Top 40. From that same album, “Giant Steps,” featuring Hubert Laws, Bobby Lyle, and Bunny Brunel won Best Jazz Song for the Akademia Music Awards. In 2016, Ms. Peoples was asked to join the Grammy-nominated jazz fusion band CAB, where she plays flute and sings.

Kaylene Peoples is a fan of the Great American Song Book. She chooses classics such as “Nature Boy,” “Lush Life,” and “Once I loved,” performing them in new ways. Just covering a tune ‘as-is’ has never appealed to her—Kaylene makes it special, each performance equipped with its own backstory. Kaylene’s audiences feel something very personal with every song she performs. This is obvious with her arrangements of “Take 5,” “Stormy Weather,” “One Note Samba,” and “Spain,”—Kaylene weaves in substitutions for standard chords, incorporates polished solos, scats, and blows us away with her effortless 1-5 octave vocal leaps. Whenever she performs, she showcases instrumental virtuosity, along with her trademarked vocal style. Kaylene takes singing to a completely new level, and when hearing her play her flute, Dave Valentine, Herbie Mann, Ian Anderson, and Hubert Laws come to mind. Growing up, her parents supported her love affair with music, and to this day she performs with the flute her dad bought her after winning a talent show in high school. As a result, Kaylene’s soloing instrument of choice is the flute. Additional releases include EPs The Meaning of Christmas (2011), Carol of the Bells (2017), and her most recent CD Romantic Bossa-Nova (2020), which not only graced Brazil’s airwaves with her single, “Corcovado,” but was also Album of the Week on Smooth FM (Portugal, which also broadcasts in Brazil, & Canada) in 2022. “Corcovado” is now playing in France!

Kaylene has performed/recorded with Bunny Brunel, Hubert Laws, Stanley Clarke, Patrice Rushen, Bobby Lyle, Kyle Eastwood, and Larry Dunn . . . just to name a few. She is the ultimate performer, creating jazz lovers wherever she goes. Versatility, vocal talent, unique style! With one listen, you’ll not only become a Kaylene Peoples fan; you, too, will find yourself
All Jazzed Up!