Nancy Kelly

Nancy Kelly is an exceptionally gifted jazz singer in a league of her own.The lady was “Born to Swing”, and she means business. Her live performances are legendary. She has earned many awards and enlisted fans from around the globe. In a market place where wispy voices and shallow emotions abound, Ms. Kelly is a breath of fresh air...or should we say, smoky air; she takes us back to the time when jazz – and that includes vocal jazz — was an authentic expression of real emotion.

Nancy Kelly’s vocal style is a study in phrasing, style and swing. She’s both old school and new. She’s experienced, yet her delivery and ideas are fresh . It takes great jazz chops to do that, and Kelly’s are superb. Always swinging with a joyful vocal sound with an ever-present undercurrent of the blues

Starting at age four in her hometown of Rochester, New York, Nancy studied piano, clarinet, drama and dance with private instructors, and voice at the Eastman School of Music. During her forty-plus year career she has honed her trademark swing/bop take no prisoner’s back-to-the-roots swinging style in front of audiences across the U.S. and abroad—from Singapore to Switzerland, France, and Turkey to her 3 tours of Japan and a recent tour of Asia including Hong Kong, Bangkok and Jakarta. Nancy appears regularly in New York City including performances at The Blue Note, Birdland and The Rainbow Room and Dizzy’s Jazz club, Lincoln Center. She works frequently in Los Angeles and Miami, as well as countless jazz clubs, festivals, and symphony orchestra engagements across the country.

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Album Review

B That Way by C. Michael Bailey
Born To Swing by Michael P. Gladstone

This review from Bruce Crowther (website)

Nancy Kelly Well, Alright! (Saying it With Jazz SIWJ 0309)

This review from Bruce Crowther (website)

Nancy Kelly Well, Alright! (Saying it With Jazz SIWJ 0309)

On the second CD, recorded in towards the end of 2008 at Bake's Place, an intimate club in Issaquah (in the state of Washington), Nancy turns her attention to some show and pop songs from the 1960s and a generous sprinkling of blues. Among the songs she sings are 'But Not For Me', 'I Love Being Here With You', 'Let's Fall in Love' and 'Alright, Okay, You Win'. The result is an electric performance, on that underlines the praise prompted from me by her first CD. This time, Nancy has a different backing trio: Randy Halberstadt on piano, Jeff Johnson on bass and Gary Hobbs on drums. She is, however, again joined by tenor saxophonist Houston Person, whose biting take on the blues is a special joy. Just as joyful is Nancy's singing voice. She has a similarly biting approach to some of the lyrics, curtailing some words in the interest of the dynamic swing she imparts. There are also many occasions throughout this wholly admirable set when she sets the spine a-tingling in a way that so few of today's singers can manage. Run, don't walk for this one.

Chris Spector MIDWEST RECORD

NANCY KELLY/Well Alright: Did some one say we had a problem with the golden age of broads? I don’t think so. Kelly is right in the pocket with a return to the last hurrah of the golden age of broads, the 60s, when supper clubs still roamed the earth and were populated by swinging kitties that knew how to take a song and a room on their own terms in high style. Yeah, kind of like the original Ramsey Lewis Trio hitting it at the London House with some solid thrush, that’s what this feels like. Lewis understands white space and laying out to let her cats swing as well. A dandy throwback vocal date from a pro that keeps proving her chops with each new session. Hot stuff.

—————————————————————————————- Singer Nancy Kelly's vibrant, rhythm-driven vocals have precisely the right combination of good-time energy, imaginative scatting and take-no-prisoners swing. Don Heckman L.A. Times

Nancy Kelly’s refined vocal style is a study in phrasing, style and the ability to swing. Kelly’s powerful singing has captured many awards and the ears of many jazz fans around the globe. With a new CD that continues to demonstrate why critics have called Nancy Kelly “the real deal,” Kelly is back and keeping the jazz world swinging read more H Allen Williams Jazzreview.com

From first perfectly pitched note, she lets the listener know that she's more than just another vocalist...superb control of intonation and time...manages to uncompromisingly establish her own voice. This chanteuse puts a hammer lock on the listener.One thing you can say about Kelly:she is not afraid to lean into space and soar like a bird. She's fashioned her own wings. read more DeeDee McNeil Cadence

Singer Nancy Kelly adopted a kind of take-no-prisoners approach to scatting and swinging on revved-up renditions of “It’s Alright with Me” and “Jeanine.” A perennial festival favorite since 1982, Kelly is a world-class jazz singer in the feisty, swinging tradition of Anita O’Day. Throughout her scintillating set she demonstrated superb phrasing, excellent time, great intonation and tons of chops, with a load of charisma to boot. read more Bill Milkowski JazzTimes M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest 2007

”Nancy Kelly is the Anita O'Day of today”

Mark Murphy

Here's the latest news on Nancy's new CD “Born To Swing”

It's very pleasing to report that Kelly not only treats this music with care and respect, she also turns it into what are unquestionably jazz performances. At a time when we are still immersed in the flood of popsters claiming to be jazz singers, this cd comes as a very welcome assurance that the real thing is still around. So why are the big bucks behind the wannabes and superior singers such as Kelly having to make their own way? Its an unfair world. Many nearly mere singers squeeze into the jazz fold by way of their accompaniment. Here though there is no question that Kelly has the touch that would swing like mad if she was all alone. This cd is on my list for jazz vocal album of the year. read more

Bruce Crowther The Jazz Journal International UK

Kelly creates her own universe of swing, executed with nuclear cool. read more

C Michael Bailey All About Jazz

Miss Kelly has paid her dues in the jazz genre and as a result she has developed into one of the major forces in this idiom, perhaps the best off them all. She has honed her craft in jazz clubs the world over. Kelly's range is high wide and handsome, her phrasing is impeccable and she scats joyfully, correctly and gives new meaning to the word hip. Nancy Kelly is the real deal and your ears will bear witness to that. read more

John Gilbert EjazzNews.com

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Primary Instrument

Voice / vocals

Location

Rochester

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Call for availability and rates

Clinic/Workshop Information

Nancy teaches "The Art of Popular Singing and Vocal Jazz Techniques" privately and at several colleges in upstate New York, focusing on what she calls "conversational singing." In Nancy's words: "I do not teach how to sing particular songs or any particular style of music. While I have students that study Jazz singing with me, my classes are intensive study on how to use the voice." She has combined techniques from the classical discipline with her 40 years experience singing everything from rock to jazz