Grace Kelly (musician)

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly (right) with Esperanza Spalding
(1st International Jazz Day, The United Nations, April 30, 2012)
Background information
Birth name Grace Chung
Born (1992-05-15) May 15, 1992
Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States
Origin Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician, composer, saxophone, singer, arranger, educator, singer-songwriter
Instruments Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Vocals, Keyboards, Flute, Clarinet,
Years active 1994–present
Labels PAZZ Productions/Woodward Ave.
Website gracekellymusic.com

Grace Kelly (born Grace Chung; May 15, 1992)[1] is a musician, entertainer, songwriter and arranger. Kelly has collaborated and recorded with many acclaimed musicians in various genres of music, produced and released recordings of her own. Kelly regularly tours with her band. She has scored soundtracks for films and appeared in documentaries. Among her many honors, Kelly was named one of Glamour magazine's Top 10 College Women in 2011;[2] and she has been featured on CNN.com[3] and on the NPR radio shows Piano Jazz with both Marian McPartland and Jon Weber, as well as on WBGO's JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.[4]

Working professionally since she was a pre-teen, Kelly has been dubbed a prodigy in the jazz world.[3][5][6][7] In 2014, Kelly worked with the producer Stewart Levine on her EP, Working For The Dreamers which was released in September of that year.[8]

She was featured in the December 2015 issue of Vanity Fair as a notable millennial in the jazz world.[9]

Early life and education

Born Grace Chung in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to Korean parents, she moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, when she was two years old. Her mother remarried in 1997 to Robert Kelly, who legally adopted Grace a few years later, thus changing her name to Grace Kelly.[1] Kelly wrote her first song "On My Way Home" at age seven.[10]

Kelly left Brookline High School at age 16 and earned her GED. After studying in the Jazz Department of New England Conservatory of Music's School of Preparatory Education, she enrolled at Berklee College of Music, where she graduated in December 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Music at age 19.[11] Kelly studies or has studied saxophone with Jeremy Udden, James Merenda,[12] George Garzone, Lee Konitz, Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, and Allan Chase.[1]

Career

On March 15, 2005, when she was just 12, Kelly released her first CD, Dreaming.[13] While in the recording stages Kelly met Ann Hampton Callaway, a jazz cabaret singer who offered to write the liner notes to Grace's first CD.[1]

Touring

At age 14, Kelly appeared as special guest artist for two nights with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops 2007 Jazz Series. One of the selections Kelly performed was her award winning composition "Every Road I Walked" which she also arranged for the entire Pops orchestra.[14]

The next year, Marsalis invited her back to play with Dave Brubeck for the "Let Freedom Swing/Celebration Of America" concert held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the inaugural festivities for U.S. President Barack Obama.[15]

In 2009, Kelly was selected by the Boston Celtics to play the National Anthem at the TD Garden for preseason and play-off games.[16]

For the Kennedy Center's 15th Annual Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival, in 2010, Kelly performed as part of an all-star quintet of Dee Dee Bridgewater, Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington and Esperanza Spalding for a set that celebrated the 100th anniversary of Mary Lou Williams's birth.[17]

In 2012, Grace was selected to perform at the 30th Annual NEA Jazz Masters Ceremony with Phil Woods and Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.[18]

She has performed in venues in the North America, South America, Europe and Asia including Carnegie Hall, Rose Hall at JALC, Birdland, Kennedy Center, Detroit Jazz Festival, Blues Alley, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Boston Symphony Hall, Jazz Standard, 50th Grammy Awards (After party), Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scotts, Duc des Lombard, Porgy & Bess.[14]

Collaborations

At 16, Kelly and NEA Jazz master Lee Konitz recorded the album, GRACEfulLEE. The album went on to garner a 4 1/2 star review from DownBeat magazine.[19]

At 18 she released her sixth album, Man with the Hat recorded as a collaboration with another NEA Jazz Master, Phil Woods.[17] The title of the album honors Woods, who has had a signature leather cap as his trademark since 1976.[20] The title of the album also refers to when Woods invited Kelly, when she was 14 years old, on stage during one of his performances and presented her with his iconic leather cap as a gift after her solo on "I'll Remember April".[21]

Charting

Kelly's 2013 single "Sweet Sweet Baby", recorded for the Woodward Avenue Records label, reached #10 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Singles Chart.[22] The track was also included on the label's 9 Mile Road compilation.[23]

Film and television

Grace Kelly is a featured performer in the 2014 documentary film Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story, co-produced by author Michael Connelly and directed by N.C. Heikin.[24] In the documentary, she performs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as part of a tribute concert held in San Quentin State Prison, where the late Frank Morgan was incarcerated at different points in his life.[25] The documentary had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 14, 2014[26] and was followed the next day by a tribute concert at The Grammy Museum, featuring George Cables, Ron Carter, Mark Gross, Grace Kelly, and Roy McCurdy.[24][27] The documentary has been selected for multiple additional film festivals, including the 2014 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival,[28] the 2014 Maine International Film Festival,[29] the 2014 Virginia Film Festival,[30] the 2014 Atlanta Film Festival,[31] the 2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival,[32] and the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival.[33] First theatrical release at the IFC Center in New York City on December 2, 2015.[25]

Kelly has performed many times with jazz musician Jon Batiste and his band Stay Human as the house band for the New York City-based late night television show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as well as at other New York City locations.[34][35][36]

Kelly is working on a new album which will include the track, "Blues For Harry Bosch", a composition written for the Amazon.com produced television series Bosch. In the second season of the series, Kelly is featured playing the song in a scene filmed at the Catalina Jazz Club.[37]

Personal life

When not touring, Grace Kelly resides in Los Angeles.[11]

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Vance Gilbert

With Bill Bandfield’s Jazz Urbane

With Bob Dorough

With Various Artists

Film credits

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Grace Kelly". Jazz at Lincoln Center.
  2. ↑ Struhl, Jessica (7 September 2011). "Top Ten College Women: The Musician". Glamour. Archived from the original on October 26, 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 Leopold, Todd (12 February 2012). "The making of a prodigy". CNN.com. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Grace Kelly on NPR". NPR.org.
  5. ↑ Was, David. "The New Grace Kelly, A Young Jazz Star". NPR.
  6. ↑ Williamson, Don. "GRACEfulLEE by Grace Kelly & Lee Konitz". Jazz Review.
  7. ↑ Fischer, Doug. "Grace Kelly in the NAC Fourth Stage (concert review by Doug Fischer)". Ottawa Citizen.
  8. ↑ Duckett, Richard. "Grace Kelly offers fresh take on jazz for a new generation". Worcester Telegram. Gatehouse Media. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Friedwald, Will. "These Millennials Are Shaking Up the Jazz World". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  10. ↑ Henderson, Alex. "Grace Kelly". AllMusic.
  11. 1 2 Goodwin, Jeremy. "Grace Kelly Is Figuring It Out On The Fly". WBUR.org. WBUR FM. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  12. ↑ "14-Year-Old Sax Prodigy Grace Kelly Set for Stardom". Sibelius. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Grace Kelly - Dreaming: product details". Amazon. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Grace Kelly". The Boston Phoenix.
  15. ↑ "Set List For January 2009 Tour". wyntonmarsalis.org.
  16. ↑ "Grace Kelly performs National Anthem at Boston Celtics 2009 playoff game.". youtube.com. Grace Kelly Music.
  17. 1 2 Pulliam, Becca. "Mary Lou Williams Festival All-Star Quintet On JazzSet". NPR.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "National Endowment for the Arts Celebrates 30th Anniversary of NEA Jazz Masters Program with Special Performances". arts.gov.
  19. ↑ "DownBeat Best CDs of The 2000s" (PDF). DownBeat Magazine.
  20. ↑ Koert, Hans. "Grace Kelly - Phil Woods - Man With The Hat". keepswinging.blogspot.com. Blogger. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  21. ↑ McClenaghan, Glenn. "Grace Kelly: Every Road I Walked". allaboutjazz.com.
  22. 1 2 "Billboard Smooth Jazz Chart for 3/11 to 4/8/2013". Billboard. 13 April 2013.
  23. ↑ Black, Brent. "9 Mile Road. Woodward Ave. 2013". criticaljazz.com. Bop-N-Jazz. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  24. 1 2 Peck, Claude (4 December 2013). "Bestseller Michael Connelly Making Frank Morgan Jazz Biopic". Star Tribune.
  25. 1 2 Scherstul, Alan. "Sax Great Frank Morgan Soars and Scores in the Moving Musical Doc ‘Sound of Redemption’". Village Voice. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  26. ↑ Easterhouse, Jim. "'The Frank Morgan Story' sounds like a fine fit at L.A. Film Festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "News About Sound of Redemption". TheFrankMorganProject.com. Retrieved 7 January 2016. Los Angeles Film Festival....June 14 – World Premiere Screening, 6:50pm, Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live...June 15 – Frank Morgan Tribute Concert at the Grammy Museum, 2-4pm
  28. ↑ "Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story". Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  29. ↑ "Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story". Maine International Film Festival. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story". Virginia Film Festival. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  31. ↑ "Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story". Atlanta Film Festival. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  32. ↑ "Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story". Palm Springs International Film Festival. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  33. ↑ "Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story". Vancouver International Film Festival. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  34. ↑ "Grace Kelly @ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York, NY". Allevents.in. Retrieved 7 January 2016. Fri Dec 18 2015 at 05:00 pm
  35. ↑ "excited to join Jon Batiste and Stay Human on Late night w Ste...". Facebook.com. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  36. ↑ "Jon Batiste and Stay Human with special guests Grace Kelly and Brandon Niederauer at Webster Hall NY". YouTube. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  37. ↑ Cummings-Grady, Mackenzie. "Brookline sax player Grace Kelly ready for close-up". BostonGlobe.com. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved 23 September 2015.

Further reading

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