Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Grace Kelly was born Grace Chung on May 15, 1992 in Wellesley, Massachusetts of Korean ancestry. A move to Brookline, Massachusetts, mother remarried and a legal adoption and her name became Kelly. Growing up in an environment of music appreciation of American standards, Broadway and jazz.
Hearing Stan Getz during the ritual Sunday brunch she fell in love with the sound, however, too young to play saxophone she started taking classical piano lessons at age six. She hanged to jazz because she liked making up her own melodies. She wrote her first song On My Way Home at age seven, took up the clarinet in 4th grade the switched to saxophone later the same year and by 12 recorded her debut CD Dreaming. While in the recording stages Kelly met An Hampton Callaway who offered to write liner notes for her first CD.
At age 14, Kelly appeared as special guest artist for two nights with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, at 15 with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the following year for the Let Freedom Swing Celebration of America concert with Dave Brubeck as part of the inaugural festivities for President Obama. She left Brookline High at 16, got her GED, recorded her CD with Lee Konitz titled GRACEfulLEE, attended Berklee College of Music on full scholarship and graduated in 2011.
She has studied with Lee Konitz, Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, James Merenda, George Garzone, Jeremy Udden and Allan Chase; played National Anthem for the Celtics preseason and playoff games, and has opened the Newport Jazz Festival in 2010.
Her list of collaborations is extensive but includes Harry Connick, Esperanza Spalding, Kenny Barron, Teri Lyne Carrington, Chris Potter, Dianne Reeves, Marian McPartland, Adam Rogers, Bob Dorough, Frank Morgan and Phil Woods among others. She has to date amassed more than two-dozen awards, recorded 10 sessions as a leader and continues to perform at some of the 600 concerts, clubs and festivals all over the world.
Inspire A Young Mind