Grace Kelly. No! Not That Grace Kelly!

     Those that know me, knows I am perfectly at home with a nice hot cup of black coffee, and a classic film. I am in my element if I am at home, or at Detroit`s Redford Theater watching Grace Kelly in High Noon, Dial M For Murder, or Rear Window. However, this blog is not about the classic film icon Grace Kelly, but about jazz saxophonist Grace Kelly.

     It is truly a joy listening to Grace Kelly. When she plays, you can hear tradition; she knows how to swing. I am impressed with her beautiful tone, which is full and energetic.

     Born Grace Chung in 1992, in Wellesley, MA, Grace had a name change due to her mother going through divorce and remarrying, and being adopted by her mother`s husband. Grace began playing saxophone in fourth grade taking private lessons. After receiving her GED, Grace received a full scholarship to attend, and graduate from the Berklee College of Music in 2011, with her degree in music. Grace Kelly has also studied with George Garzone, Lee Konitz, Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, and Allan Chase.

     At the young age of 20, Grace Kelly has an impressive resume'. Kelly was winner of the 2008 and 2010 Boston Music "Jazz Artist of the Year"; debuted on NPR Jazz Set with Geri Allen, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dee Dee Bridgewater; In 2011, Grace performed with the great Phil Woods at Newport Jazz 2011, live in concert; Phoenix "2012 Best Music Poll Winner"; featured in CNN.com "Making of a Prodigy"; named "Alto Saxophonist Rising Star" four years in a row in Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, in August, 2012. In 2009, trumpet great Wynton Marsalis invited Grace to join the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Kennedy Center`s Eisenhower Theater in Washington, for a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day/Inauguration eve concert. Marsalis says "Grace Kelly plays with intelligence, wit and feeling. She has a great amount of natural ability and the ability to adapt that is the hallmark of a first-class jazz musician".

     If I am at home with a cup of coffee with Irish cream mixed-in, and sitting on the couch watching Hitchcock`s To Catch A Thief, starring Grace Kelly, and at the same time listening to Grace Kelly playing Bill Whither`s Ain`t No Sunshine, and other pieces, I guess you could say I would be in the best of both worlds.