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 | May 15, 1992 Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States |
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, Pop, Sophisti-pop, Blues, Rock, Singer-songwriter |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, saxophone, singer, arranger, educator |
| Instruments | Saxophone, Vocals, Keyboards, Flute |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | PAZZ Productions/Woodward Ave. |
| Website | gracekellymusic |
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 and has performed in over 600 concerts, in 28 countries.[2] 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 Woman in 2011[3] and she has been featured on CNN.com[4] and on the NPR shows Piano Jazz with both Marion McPartland and Jon Weber as well as on WBGO's JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.[5]
Working professionally since she was a pre-teen, Kelly has been seen as a prodigy.[4][6][7][8] She received her BA from Berklee College of Music at age 19 and currently resides in Los Angeles.[9] In 2014, Kelly worked with the producer Stewart Levine on her EP, Working For The Dreamers which was released in September of that year.[10]
Currently she 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.[11]
Contents
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
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.[12]
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]
Education[edit]
She left Brookline High School at age 16, earned her GED, and began study at Berklee College of Music where she graduated December 2011 with a degree in Professional Music. Kelly studies or has studied saxophone with Jeremy Udden, James Merenda,[14] George Garzone, Lee Konitz, Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, and Allan Chase.[1]
Career[edit]
Touring[edit]
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.[15]
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 President Barack Obama.[16]
In 2009, Kelly was selected by the Boston Celtics to play the National Anthem at the TD Garden for a preseason and play-off games.[17]
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.[18] The quintet's performance was broadcast on WBGO's JazzSet and released on the album Walkin' and Swingin Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival Vol 2 CD.[19]
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.[20]
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.[15]
Collaborations[edit]
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.[21]
At 18 she released her sixth album, Man with the Hat recorded as a collaboration with another NEA Jazz Master, Phil Woods.[18] The title of the album honors Woods, who has had a signature leather cap as his trademark since 1976.[22] 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".[23]
Charting[edit]
Her 2013 single, Sweet Sweet Baby, recorded for the Woodward Avenue Records label, reached #10 on Billboard Smooth Jazz Singles Chart.[24] The track was also included on the label's 9 Mile Road compilation.[25]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Grace Kelly". Jazz at Lincoln Center. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "jalc" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ "Taos celebrates Frank Morgan". Taos News.
- ^ "Top Ten College Women: The Musician". Glamour Magazine.
- ^ a b Leopold, Todd. "The making of a prodigy". CNN.
- ^ "Grace Kelly on NPR".
- ^ Was, David. "The New Grace Kelly, A Young Jazz Star". NPR.
- ^ Williamson, Don. "GRACEfulLEE by Grace Kelly & Lee Konitz". Jazz Review.
- ^ Fischer, Doug. "Grace Kelly in the NAC Fourth Stage (concert review by Doug Fischer)". Ottawa Citizen.
- ^ Goodwin, Jeremy. "Grace Kelly Is Figuring It Out On The Fly". artery.wbur.org. WBUR FM. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ^ Duckett, Richard. "Grace Kelly offers fresh take on jazz for a new generation". telegram.com. Gatehouse Media/Worcester Telegram. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ^ Cummings-Grady, Mackenzie. "Brookline sax player Grace Kelly ready for close-up". BostonGlobe.com. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ^ Henderson, Alex. "Grace Kelly". AllMusic.
- ^ "Grace Kelly - Dreaming: product details". Amazon. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ^ "14-Year-Old Sax Prodigy Grace Kelly Set for Stardom". Sibelius. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Grace Kelly". The Boston Phoenix.
- ^ "Set List For January 2009 Tour". wyntonmarsalis.org.
- ^ "Grace Kelly performs National Anthem at Boston Celtics 2009 playoff game.". youtube.com. Grace Kelly Music.
- ^ a b Pulliam, Becca. "Mary Lou Williams Festival All-Star Quintet On JazzSet". npr.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ^ kennedycenter.org. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts http://www.kennedy-center.org/giftshop/html/itemDetail.cfm?item_sku=1023989&categ_id=2003092214202595. Retrieved 23 September 2015. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ^ "National Endowment for the Arts Celebrates 30th Anniversary of NEA Jazz Masters Program with Special Performances". arts.gov.
- ^ "DownBeat Best CDs of The 2000s" (PDF). DownBeat Magazine.
- ^ Koert, Hans. "Grace Kelly - Phil Woods - Man With The Hat". keepswinging.blogspot.com. Blogger. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ^ McClenaghan, Glenn. "Grace Kelly: Every Road I Walked". allaboutjazz.com.
- ^ "Billboard Smooth Jazz Chart for 3/11 to 4/8/2013". Billboard. 13 April 2013.
- ^ Black, Brent. "9 Mile Road. Woodward Ave. 2013". criticaljazz.com. Bop-N-Jazz. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
Further reading[edit]
- Megliola, Lenny, "Young jazz saxophonist Grace Kelly does it all", The Boston Globe, February 23, 2013
External links[edit]
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