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| Nancy Kelly to be inducted in Rochester Music Hallof Fame on May 1, 2022 & The Release on Sub-Cat Records - The Reel to Real Sessions Singer, composer, educator Nancy Kelly has always been drawn to the arts. From age four, in her hometown of Rochester, New York, Nancy first studied piano, which later led to clarinet, dramatic arts, dance and later voice - which was to be her calling - at the Eastman School of Music. Over the course of an illustrious, five-decade career, Kelly has honed her trademark swing/bop, take-no-prisoners, soulful, swinging style in front of audiences across the U.S. and abroad, including concerts in Singapore, Switzerland, France, Turkey, Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Jakarta. Kelly got her real education as house singer at Jewels, a jazz club in center city Philadelphia, where she shared the bill with, among others, Betty Carter, Houston Person, Etta Jones, Joey DeFrancesco, Groove Holmes and Jack McDuff. Nancy is a charter member of the Upstate Burn Society, a loosely organized group including Don Menza, Joe Romano, and several other Jazz Illuminati from Upstate New York. In fact, Kelly will be inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame on May 1, 2022 (Class of 2020). Past Alumni include trumpeters Chuck Mangione and Lew Soloff; opera star Renee Fleming, bass legend Ron Carter, drummer Steve Gadd and vibraphonist Joe Locke. The acclaimed singer also enjoys a solid fan base from around the globe for her classic swinging style. Ms. Kelly's artistry takes us back to when jazz – including vocal jazz - was an authentic expression of genuine emotion. Kelly appears regularly in New York City, at such hallowed venues as The Blue Note, Birdland, The Rainbow Room, and Dizzy's at JALC. She also works frequently in Los Angeles and Miami, and at countless jazz clubs, festivals, and as part of symphony orchestra engagements across the country. She was twice named "Best Female Jazz Vocalist" in the Down Beat Readers' Poll. She has recorded six critically acclaimed recordings. Her first recording, Live Jazz, reached #11 on the Billboard jazz charts. Born to Swing and her fourth recording, Well Alright, feature guest tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Nancy's highly acclaimed B That Way enjoyed eight solid weeks in the top 50 on the national Jazz Week charts and received rave reviews worldwide. Her most recent full album, Remembering Mark Murphy, was hailed as one of the top 20 Jazz recordings of 2019. Ms. Kelly's many accomplishments and accolades are proof that a great voice doesn't happen overnight. More than any other instrument, the voice gains its resonance and soulfulness from the body's life experiences that surround it. To paraphrase Bird, "If you haven't lived it, isn't going to come out of your horn." And Nancy Kelly has lived it. She is, in every respect, "The Real Deal." Jazz Woman, The Reel to Real Sessions alludes to the retro spirit of two intriguing songs written when Kelly was a fledgling jazz artist, but only now recorded for the very first time. The beauty of these two songs, "Jazz Woman" and "Move Over, " released as singles, lies in their effortless delivery and the authenticity of their author, Nancy Kelly, a singer whose artistry assures them a place in the vocal pantheon of timeless songs. Kelly has decided to release these singles as part of an ongoing series, a collection of original tunes comprising three dozen songs the acclaimed singer intends to eventually release. Kelly, until now best known for her compelling command of the great standards with panache and style, can now add songwriter to her impressive curriculum vitae. Jazz Woman, The Reel to Real Sessions signals Kelly's important new foray into the documentation of her original songs, delivered by an older, wiser and more irresistible version of her younger self. Kelly follows such brilliant artists as Joni Mitchell, who revisited her oeuvre on Both Sides Now (2000), and David Bowie, whose "lost" album of newly-recorded early originals, Toy, was released this year. These first two singles of original songs offer Kelly in an adventurous spirit, yet still firmly within her beloved, endlessly swinging bebop style. As she explains, "I've spent much of my recording career immersed in the reimagining of jazz standards after spending my early years finding my way there. I worked in many genres of music, from rock to rhythm & blues and funk, before finally finding my calling in jazz. My early composing years drew primarily from those experiences, but oddly, the closer I got to jazz, the further I got from ever completing the work. As a result, it sat untouched for many years. Happily, for me there's been a positive aspect of the pandemic. It has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on my compositions and to contemplate their resurrection. I was concerned about whether their lyrical content, written in a different era, could still be relevant and enjoyable to the listener. I gave it some thought, and my heart answered a resounding yes. I began organizing about thirty originals and have chosen two initial songs to develop and release. I began recording them at my home studio, then rearranged them, finally bringing the project to John DiMartino. We recorded them in New Jersey at Teaneck Sound on August 18, 2021, then later recorded the vocals and completed mixing at SubCat Studios, in Syracuse, NY." TRACKS AND TIMES & COMPOSER: Side A. Jazz Woman. 3:33 (Nancy Kelly) Side B. Move Over. 5:11 (Nancy Kelly PLAYERS, INSTRUMENT: Nancy Kelly: composer, arrangements John DiMartino: piano, synth and arrangements Ed Howard: bass Freddie Hendrix: trumpet Harry Allen: tenor Carmen Intorre Jr.: drums and percussion Wesley Amorim: guitar Jimmy Johns: vibes write your comments about the article :: © 2022 Jazz News :: home page |