DIVAS. Cont'd.

NANCY KELLY: The Voice of Life

 

When you are growing up the music heard most sets a standard from which you grow and develop your own love of music… I heard great music in my home, my father played classical music often but more so all of the big bands and Billy Holiday, Frank Sinatra. Mother played Fats Waller a lot on the piano. In my early teens my friends were listening to the Beach Boys while I was groovin' on Aretha and James Brown. I became really interested in jazz after a friend turned me on to Kenny Rankin and Mark Murphy. I have listened to all the greats:- Ella, Billy, Frank but I'm drawn more to horn players, I think you can hear that in my style now. For me, music must have a lot of soul and be very sincere. When you are first trying out your jazz chops you borrow from everyone, it's like learning to speak for the first time. You learn from hearing it performed and as you grow you develop your own style along the way. It's very important to be in touch with your inner self ." Nancy appeared at Birdland in New York City, Jewels in Philadelphia, and other major jazz clubs. Touring the U.S. with producer/pops conductor Jeff Tyzik, she has appeared with many symphony orchestras. She has also performed with Benny Goodman and Nelson Riddle orchestra and opened for Dizzy Gilespie, Chick Corea, New York Voices, Yellow jackets and Doctor John among others. Her debut album Live Jazz landed at number eleven on the BILLBOARD Top Jazz Chart. Her new CD on Amherst Records Jazz Woman is in pre-production with a fall release planned. You should hear Nancy sing “That’s All”, “The Joint is Jumpin”, “Through the Fire”, "Till There Was You", “Twisted” and "Let Me Off Uptown". Then, you will realize that this Diva personifies the essence, soul and spirit of the perfect lyrical Jazz singer. Her recent CD “ Singin and Swingin” is a precious gift to the world of music. You will love and enjoy every second of it. Add it to your collection, for it is a rare treasure. "The world is a painful show. It brings to you tears and blows. That’s life, you die or grow, drink to life and spread it around you.” A passage from the theme song of “Marmara The Gypsy”, a world premiere musical play, I wrote and directed long time ago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, USA. And now, twenty years later, I feel the same way when I hear the voice of Nancy Kelly…when I read the emails she sends me…and when I sail into “bigger than life” musical world of this fabulous human being. In ancient Babylon, Phoenicia, Greece and Roma, Gods  and Goddesses descended on earth to amuse and inspire kings and queens. They also descended on their kingdoms, castles, prairies and hills to spread beauty, hope, colors, tears, joy and light.

Through their inspiration and celestial voices, the Gods and Goddesses of the Pantheons guided humans and attenuated their pain and sufferings. The high priests, the Oracle mistresses and the sages followed suit. They created musical instruments such as the pan, the flute and the “cythar”. And to enhance the magical effect of music on the souls and minds of humans, they taught us how to write poetry and how to sing songs. For, the magical influence of music, singing and poetry is transcendental, ageless and multidimensional. Some songs were written to lift up your soul, to make you dream, to fantasize and to create a better world, where only hope grows, joy blooms and beauty ascends to your visions. When those songs are sung by a singer like Nancy Kelly  who projects life, who captures your inner thoughts and feelings, who elevates you to a higher plane, then and only then, music and poetry become an essential necessity in your daily life.  Nancy Kelly’s voice and particularly “Nancy Kelly, the woman behind the mic” inspires and  energizes us. She is one of those goddesses who descended on earth and did not return to the firmament. She remained with us to vitalize our hope, to stimulate our positive thoughts, to “put a tiger in our tank” and to show us the multiple facets of life. Every good singer can sing well but, few like Nancy Kelly make you think, contemplate, re-anchor yourself and now and then hit you with a fresh breeze or shake the hell out of your hard time. When Nancy sings and talks to you, she is as strong as mother earth, as truthful as the last prayer and as mesmerizing Diva as the first Goddess who taught humans how to sing and mock the absurdity of destiny. Nancy is a pulverizing power on stage. Nancy is beauty and love from within. Nancy Kelly is the lyrical Goddess of contemporary Jazz.

End of the article.