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Kellye Gray

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Kellye Gray is a jazz vocalist based in Austin, Texas. A Dallas native, Gray was a fixture in Houston for several years before moving to San Francisco in 1992. Beginning her career on Austin’s Sixth Street, she provided a rare jazz experience that attracted the college crowd as well as the more sophisticated up-and-coming baby boomers.[1] The San Francisco Examiner called her "a musically most imaginative tour de force."

In 1990 her first album, Standards In Gray (Justice Records), soared to #12 on the Gavin Report, selling over 75,000 copies. Three years later, another chart-topper, Tomato Kiss (Proteus Recordings), helped her move into the national spotlight. An induction into the Texas Jazz Heritage Society along with moving to San Francisco continued to raise the bar and legitimized her as a career jazz vocalist. CMJ New Music Report said she "emerges with moxie and sophistication."[2]

Her career stalled in 2000 after bereavement and divorce. Not one to be driven too far off-track, in 2002–03 Kellye produced the double live album Blue and Pink (Proteus Recordings). By early 2007 she had put a new team together and released the concert recording, Live at the Jazzschool (Grr8Records), recorded in Berkeley at the Jazzschool.

2008 opened with another live recording, KG3 Live! at the Bugle Boy (Grr8Records), an acoustic trio project featuring classical guitar, acoustic bass and jazz voice. The trio recorded at the La Grange, Texas vintage World War II army barracks venue. She is currently focused on new studio projects, including a duet recording with Mark Levine, another acoustic trio disc, and an original project. In the summer of 2010 she was the Vocal Intensive instructor at Jazz Camp West in California.[3]

Kellye has performed for dignitaries and heads-of-state. She has had the honor of sharing the stage with a wide variety of jazz, blues and R&B stars throughout the United States and the world. She regularly tours the U.S. and Europe, performing at festivals and concerts and nightclubs. Some notable mentions have been the Spoleto Festival USA, Stanford Jazz Festival, Houston International Festival, the Jazz and Blues Heritage Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Yoshi's, the Cinegrille, Snug Harbor, Lincoln Center, Les Caveaux de la Rochette, and many, many more.

References

  1. ^ Women in Jazz
  2. ^ CMJ New Music Report.
  3. ^ "Vocal Intensive", Jazz Camp West.
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