Mostly jazz trio of piano, acoustic bass and drums. Also have two other groups: KG3 is classical guitar, acoustic bass and voice and FUZZ effected electric bass and voice (think Ella and Jaco have a love child). I love horns and percussion and try to add them whenever I can.
Influences
Most of my influences were old-school jazzers like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughn, Chris Conner, Ella and Shirley Horn but I grew up listening to rockers like Led Zepplin, the Doors, Cream and Stevie Ray Vaughn. I loved all the R&B/soul singers like Aretha, James Brown and Annie Lennox. Somehow all these influences managed to work their way inside me combining of all these styles topped it off with a big old helping of me.
Kellye Gray is cool. Not Miles Davis cool, though certainly she has some elements of that. It’s more like your best friend kind of cool. The kind of cool that makes you feel at ease. You want to shoot the breeze with her because she’s engaging, and you’ll laugh your ass off. Kellye Gray is also a jazz singer. A good one at that, which is no small feat considering her predecessors. Raised on R&B and the Motown sound, Gray was turned on to jazz by her parents. First it was singers like Sarah Vaughn and Cris Connor. Then it was instrumental monsters like Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, The Modern Jazz Quartet and John Coltrane. “I didn’t discover Ella or Betty Carter until much later on,” she adds.
— Paul J. MacArthur, Houston Press
A Dallas native, Gray was a fixture in Houston for several years before moving to San Francisco in 1992. Beginning her career on Austin’s Sixth Street, she provided a rare jazz experience that attracted the college crowd as well as the more sophisticated up-and-coming baby boomers. The San Francisco Examiner called her “a musically most imaginative tour de force.” In 1990 her first album, Standards In Gray (Justice Records), soared to 12 on the Gavin Report. Three years later, another chart-topper, Tomato Kiss (Proteus Recordings), helped her move into the national spotlight. An induction into the Texas Jazz Heritage Society along with moving to San Francisco continued to raise the bar and legitimized her as a career jazz vocalist. CMJ New Music Report said she “emerges with moxie and sophistication.”
In 2002–2003 Kellye produced the double live album, Blue and Pink (Proteus Recordings). By early 2007 she had put a new team together and released the concert recording, Live at the Jazzschool (Grr8Records). Amazon.com and Epionions.com report comments like, “Kellye Gray simply blew me away. Very few female jazz singers have her range and soul.” And, “Kellye Gray is one of the finest singers I’ve ever heard on record or in
person. She can blast away or quietly capture your heart.”
2008 opened with another live recording, KG3 Live! at the Bugle Boy (Grr8Records), an acoustic trio project featuring classical guitar, acoustic bass and jazz voice. The trio recorded at the La Grange, Texas vintage WWII army barracks venue.
Kellye has performed for dignitaries and heads-of-state. She has had the honor of sharing the stage with a wide variety of jazz, blues and R&B stars throughout the United States and the world. She regularly tours the U.S. and Europe, performing at festivals and concerts and nightclubs. Some notable mentions have been the Spoleto Festival USA,
Stanford Jazz Festival, Houston International Festival, the Jazz and Blues Heritage Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Yoshi’s, the Cinegrille, Snug Harbor, Lincoln Center, Les Caveaux de la Rochette, and many, many more.
“Simply the most exciting singer to debut” says USA Today.
Vote today in the Austin Music Poll! Vote for Ruby Jane for Best Misc. Instrument (fiddle, of course) and The Ruby Jane Show for Best New Band! Vote! Vote Vote! http://www.austinchronicle.com/feedback/musicpoll/09/
Hey my favorite cuz!! I Love you sooo mucho & miss you as well. You need to read my blogs, I am starting too write short stories & I think you will piss yourself laughing on a few!! And I hope you will like a lot of my poems? Please let me know?? My email address is: kiaras@netzero.com Love you loads Kiara Jo
I will never live up to even coming close to deserving the extreme kindness & generous tribute, my friend miuma has provided in featuring me with Carol ~ my true love !!!!!
Hiya Kellye! Thanks for your supportive comment-it's very much appreciated! I can remember the first time I put my music up on myspace-you wonder if anyone will listen to it!44,000 plays is very exciting! God Bless, Tim.
unfortunately my influence on the films i work for is not that big... the only creative impact i have is when doing colourcorrection. but i'm adding it to the soundtrack of my life ;-)