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Grace Kelly is a saxophonist, singer songwriter, composer/arranger from Brookline, Massachusetts. Having studied saxophone since the age of ten, she is rapidly making her way up in the jazz music world. Grace’s talents far outstrip others her age. Now just fifteen, Grace has already recorded and/or performed with many notable musicians: Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Frank Morgan, Cedar Walton, Ann Hampton Callaway, Kenny Barron, Bill Charlap, Jerry Bergonzi, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jeff Hamilton, Peter Washington, Chris Potter, Adam Rogers, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, Dianne Reeves, Christian Scott, Billy Hart, George Cables, Ronnie Mathews, James Moody, James Cotton, and has performed in many notable venues in the U.S. and Europe such as Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Dizzy’s Club Cocoa Cola, Jazz Standard, Scullers Jazz Club, Jazz Bakery in LA, Regatta Bar, Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Newport Blues Café, Boston Symphony Hall, Dakota Jazz Club, B.B. King’s, and Jazz Festivals such as Tanglewood, Detroit, Lionel Hampton, Twin Cities, Marblehead, East Coast, Pittsfield and as far away as Tromso, Norway at the Nordlysfestivalen, (Northern Lights Festival)
Grace is also an award winning recording artist having released three CD’s as a leader. “Dreaming” 2005, “Times Too” 2005, and “Every Road I Walked” 2006
Recipient of the ASCAP Foundation 2008 Young Jazz Composers Award for "101"
Recipient of the ASCAP Foundation 2007 Young Jazz Composers Award for the title track of “Every Road I Walked”
Winner of 2007 Downbeat Student Music Award, Arrangement “Summertime” (Every Road I Walked)
Berklee College of Music Superior Musicianship Award at 2007 Berklee High School Jazz Festival.
Winner of four 2006 Downbeat Student Music Awards, Jazz Instrumentalist, Pop/Rock/Blues Instrumentalist, Original Composition – “Fast Metabolism” (Times Too), Jazz Vocalist – Outstanding Performance.
Grace Kelly was the youngest ever winner of Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship at the 2006 East Coast Jazz Festival.
Winner of two International Songwriting Contests in 2006 & 2007 for her composition “Filosphical Flying Fish” (Every Road I Walked)
Grace Kelly was judged the top woodwind soloist and the top vocal alto soloist at the 2007 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Also when Grace played at the after hours jam session for two hours with Russell Malone, John Stowell and others, author Doug Ramsey was in the audience. This is what he to say about it. “I know of no explanation other than genius for this slender fourteen-year-old girl's attainment of maturity in her art. She has mastery of the instrument, passion, profound swing, and judgment that one would expect in a player with twenty years of professional experience.”
……Doug Ramsey
Born Grace Chung on May 15, 1992 in Wellesley, Massachusetts to Korean parents, Grace moved to Brookline, MA when she was two years old with her mother and sister after her parents divorced. Grace’s mother married Robert Kelly in 1997 and a few years later Grace and her sister Christina were legally adopted by her stepfather and thus her name became Grace Kelly. Grace was brought up by a family that greatly appreciates music and the arts. When she is not busy with her burgeoning musical career, Grace likes to dance, act, and hang out with her friends. She picked up the acting bug from her sister Christina, currently a student at Harvard University. Grace also has two stepsisters and a stepbrother: Heather, Sara and Tim. Tim was a sergeant in the Marines and served twice in the war in Iraq.
Mother Irene Chang Kelly believes that learning piano is the best way to prepare for a lifetime of music, and so Grace began piano lessons at age six. She began with classical training but soon changed to jazz because she had the propensity not to stick to the notes on the page but wanted to make up her own melodies. Grace wrote her first song “On My Way Home” at age seven.
All public school students in Grace’s hometown are required to choose an instrument and take a year of school-sponsored instruction in fourth grade, and Grace chose the clarinet. But this fourth-grader had already gotten hooked on another sound: the warm, almost-human voice of the saxophone. Her mom always loved [saxophonist] Stan Getz and would be playing him at home when they had Sunday brunch. Grace always wanted to play saxophone, but they didn’t let you take it until fifth grade. So she started on clarinet. Grace couldn’t wait until fifth grade, so halfway through fourth grade she started private lessons on the saxophone. When Grace was 12 she met Ann Hampton Callaway, a renowned cabaret artist, prodigious recording artist and award-winning songwriter. Seeing all that Grace had accomplished in those two short years, it is no wonder that when Ann Hampton Callaway met Grace she declared of Grace that “her sensitivity, control and focus as an alto saxophonist is impressive. When I played some songs of hers for the legendary drummer Victor Lewis [who has played with Duke Ellington, Stan Getz, and many more], he said, ‘Wow, I love her sound.’”
Grace currently studies saxophone with Jerry Bergonzi, Lee Konitz, and Allan Chase. She also studies composition, arranging, flute, drums, and piano. Having participated in the certificate programs at both Brookline Music School and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Grace is the youngest ever to complete the four year Jazz Studies Certificate Program at New England Conservatory Prep School.
Grace began taking voice lessons this past year although she has been singing since she could talk; her soulful, versatile voice is quickly becoming one of her trademarks whether she’s crooning a love song or belting out the blues. She has kept up with piano all of these years, but now mostly uses those skills in conjunction with her creativity to write original songs. A visit to the Kelly’s proves this very quickly, for Grace is frequently trying out a new idea for a song on the piano or guitar or listening to one of her creations via Sibelius, a music notation program, connected to her keyboard. “Grace has always had an innate creativity. When she was younger she never really needed toys because she could make up stories, songs, and dances – entertaining herself for hours by standing in front of a mirror and performing for her own reflection. She remembers Grace practicing piano and ten minutes later she’ll be making up songs instead of practicing. She’s a very creative being,” remarked Mrs. Kelly.
Grace plays the alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, piano, some clarinet, flute, drums, bass and sings. The styles of music that intrigue Grace are many. Although jazz is her first love she embraces blues, funk, rock and contemporary styles. Some of the artists on Grace’s nightstand are Paul Desmond, Joshua Redmond, Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Brad Meldau and Pat Metheny, Dave Brubeck, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Billy Childs, Steve Wilson and Frank Morgan are some of the instrumentalists Grace is currently listening to. As for singers, Grace is inspired by Ella, Sarah, Billy, Carmen McRae, Shirley Horn, Dianne Reeves, Ann Hampton Callaway, among others. Grace loves old movies and more recent romantic comedies. Some of her favorite actors are Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Orlando Bloom, Cary Grant, and of course Princess Grace Kelly
What does the future hold for this emerging musical powerhouse? Grace says she hopes to become better and better at playing all her instruments and to do a lot more composing and arranging. “I just want to share my music with as many people as I can, hoping that my music gives as them joy and pleasure.”
As Ann Hampton Callaway predicts, “There is no telling how far this child prodigy will go with the limitless possibilities of her voluminous talents. Grace is following her heart and that path is sure to lead her on a great adventure that all listeners, lucky enough to discover her, will relish.”
Grace has grown up loving jazz, and Broadway musicals. She likes to listen to Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley, Johnny Hodges, Frank Morgan, Dexter Gordon, and many more. Some of her favorite singers are Ella Fitzgerald, Dianna Krall, Dianne Reeves, Stevie Wonder, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Roberta Gamborini.
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.........."the jazz world has another great reason to celebrate with the arrival of Grace Kelly. Her talent makes her a triple threat as a brilliant saxophonist, a very gifted composer, and vocalist with great feeling. Her playing represents everything I love about jazz, swinging, imagination, and the blues. ...........Donald Brown
Grace is following her heart and that path is sure to lead her on a great adventure that all listeners, lucky enough to discover her, will relish.
….Ann Hampton Callaway
“I’m really knocked out with her playing, it sounds mature, doesn’t have anything to prove, and she’s just in the moment improvising. She’s got it naturally. That’s what I love about her.”
….Jerry Bergonzi
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