Grace Kelly (born Grace Chung; May 15, 1992)[1] is an American jazz musician, composer, and arranger. Kelly has produced and released recordings of her own, scored soundtracks, and tours with her band. She 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'sJazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.[4]
David Sanborn, Grace Kelly and Marcus Miller
Working professionally since she was a preteen, Kelly was 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 significant millennial in the jazz world.[9] Kelly was named『Rising Star – Alto Saxophone』in DownBeat's 2016 Critics Poll.[10] Her Trying to Figure It Out (2016 PAZZ) release was voted the number-two Jazz Album of the Year in the 2016 DownBeat readers' poll.[11]
Born Grace Chung in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to Korean parents, she moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, when she was 2 years old. She briefly played clarinet and classical piano before finding her voice on the saxophone.[12] Kelly stated, "Saxophone reminds me of the human voice. And I always felt this very compelling, this feeling, that someone was singing to me. The Girl from Ipanema was on repeat in my household when I was a little girl and thought: ‘I wanna learn this one day.’ It’s one of the instruments that’s closest to expressing the human voice.”[13][12]
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.[14] Kelly counts it a major breakthrough in her career when singer/songwriter Fred Taylor approached her after she sat in with vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway at Sculler's.[15] He offered to book her first headlining show at a major jazz venue.[15]
On March 15, 2005, when she was just 12, Kelly released her first CD, Dreaming.[18] While in the recording stages, Kelly met Ann Hampton Callaway, a jazz cabaret singer, who offered to write the liner notes to Kelly's first CD.[1] Grace won numerous ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards. Grace previously won the "Jazz Artist of the Year" for the third time at the 2016 Boston Music Awards'[19] she had won the same award in 2008 and 2010. She was voted alto saxophonist of the year by the 2016 NYC Jazz Fans Decision Award.[20]
At 15, Kelly and NEA jazz master Lee Konitz recorded the album, GRACEfulLEE. The album gained a 4 1/2-star review from DownBeat.[25]
At 18, she released her sixth album, Man with the Hat, recorded as a collaboration with another NEA jazz master Phil Woods.[23] The title of the album honors Woods, who has had a signature leather cap as his trademark since 1976.[26] 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".[27]
In 2017, when she recorded Go Time: Brooklyn 2, Kelly had Leo Pellegrino as a guest.[28] On November 30, 2019, Pellegrino and Kelly announced the official formation of a new "group, a band... a collaboration" called 2SAXY, which would consist of a duet between Kelly on alto saxophone and Pellegrino on baritone saxophone.[29]
Kelly's 2013 single "Sweet Sweet Baby", recorded for the Woodward Avenue Records label, reached number 7 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Singles chart.[30] The track was also included on the label's 9 Mile Road compilation.[31]
Kelly released her tenth CD, Trying to Figure It Out, in 2016; it includes the track "Blues For Harry Bosch", a composition written for the Amazon.com produced television series Bosch. In the second season, episode 2, of the series, Kelly is featured, as herself,[45] performing "Blues For Harry Bosch" in a scene in front of main character Harry Bosch Titus Welliver and his Lieutenant Amy Aquino filmed at the Catalina Jazz Club.[46]
Kelly was Executive Producer and music composer of the 2017 short film The Bird Who Could Fly, directed by Raphael Sbarge, written by Robert Munic and Raphael Sbarge. The film won multiple awards in the "Asians on Film Festival of Shorts 2016 Fall Quarter".[47]
In partnership with Berklee College of Music, Kelly established the Fred Taylor Scholarship Fund[48] by producing, emceeing, and performing at an all-star benefit concert[49] at the Berklee Performance Center on September 12, 2017, raising enough funds to establish an endowed scholarship fund.[50]
Working For The Dreamers (2014) (PAZZ Productions); Sunny Levine, Amir Yaghmai, Gabriel Noel
"Sweet Sweet Baby" (2013) (single) (PAZZ Productions); Alain Mallet, Mike Bono, Duke Levine, Spencer Stewart, Eric Law, Gabe Smith, John Nellen, Vishall Nayak. The single reached #10 on Billboard Smooth Jazz Singles Chart[30]
Live at Scullers (2013) (PAZZ Productions); Pete McCann, Mark Walker, Jason Palmer, Zach Brown, Chantale Sterling, Jaime Woods, Eric Law
Grace (2011) (Pazz Productions); George Russell Jr., Peter Clemente, Jamey Haddad
The Junction (2018) When asked about her personal favorite song on the new CD, Bentyne said, "I love every single song because each song represents us as a whole. We all participated in writing. So I will say, today 'Blues For Harry Bosch.' I heard this wild, wonderful; sax player, Grace Kelly on YouTube and her video for this piece was thrilling!"[51]
The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul (Concord/Universal, 2015)
With Vance Gilbert
BaD Dog Buffet (2014); Tom Eaton, Larry Luddecke, Kevin Barry, Grace Kelly, Richard Gates, Lorne Entress, Neal Eckstein, Joe Walsh, Darol Anger, Roy Sludge
A Tribute To Phil Woods (2018) Recorded live on September 8, 2016, as a guest soloist along with Bob Dorough, Houston Person, Randy Brecker, Ada Rovatti with Phil Woods Quintet and Big Band.
The Bird Who Could Fly (2017) Director: Raphael Sbarge, Writers: Robert Munic and Raphael Sbarge, Executive Producer: Grace Kelly, Composer: Grace Kelly [53]
Bosch (2016, Season 2 Episode 2) Director: Alex Zakrzewski, Writer: Joe Gonzalez
Starcrossed (2015) Director: Chase Mohseni; starring Mischa Barton, Eric Roberts, Grant Harvey. Musical contributions by Kelly.
Delta Rising (2009) Directors: Michael Afendakis, Laura Bernieri; a blues documentary featuring Willie Nelson, Morgan Freeman and others. Performance by Kelly.
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009) Director: Damien Chazelle. Musical contribution by Kelly.
Men in Green (2009) Producers: John Ippolito, Laura Bernieri (also Director); a behind-the-scenes documentary with the legends of the Boston Celtics hosted by Satch Sanders. Film score composed and performed by Kelly.
^"News About Sound of Redemption". TheFrankMorganProject.com. Retrieved January 7, 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
