GRACE KELLY WITH STRINGS

AT THE MOVIES

Pazz Productions

Grace Kelly, alto, baritone, tenor and soprano saxophone/vocals; Cooper Appelt, upright & electric bass; Eli Bishop, classical Nylon-string guitar/tenor banjo/mandolin & mandolindo; Tamir Hendelman, piano; Adam Bravo, additional synth programming; Jake Reed, drums/percussion; Cory Wong, Shaun Richardson & Pasha Riger, electric guitar; John Schroeder, acoustic & electric guitar; Sean Jones, trumpet; VIOLINS: Eli Bishop, concert master; Steve C. Chiu, Haruka Horil, Camille Miller, Grace Rodgers & Leah Zeger; VIOLAS: Lauren Elizabeth Baba, Eli Bishop, Hailey Walterman; CELLOS: Eli Bishop, Emily Nelson Rogers, Ro Rowan & Simona Vitucci; With Bryan Carter, conductor.

It’s Woman’s History Month and Wynton Marsalis gave this lady a credible stamp of approval when he wrote, “Grace 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.”

On the opening tune, Grace Kelly shows us her power on the saxophone and offers her soft, compelling singing voice during a tribute to James Bond. She has arranged a medley of music from that popular bond film series.  Kelly’s been in love with movies, movie stars and film soundtracks since childhood.  After all, she was named after the historic American actress, Grace Kelly, who starred in “Dial M for Murder” and “The Country Girl” before exiting Hollywood to marry Prince Ranier III of Monaco.

“Falling in love with Grace Kelly, having her name, playing some incredible music, including the only song she sang in a film, this is a project I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and I’m really proud of it,” Kelly writes in her press package.

The song that saxophonist Grace Kelly is referring to is a duet sung by actress (Grace Kelly) with crooner Bing Crosby in the film “High Society.”  It was titled “True Love” and namesake ‘Kelly’ sings it on her current album.

Jake Reed’s drums shine on the arrangement of “He’s a Pirate” from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” motion picture.  But one of my favorites on this album is when Kelly plays the old standard, “The Way You Look Tonight.”  Clearly, I hear shades of Charlie Parker in her song arrangement. You can definitely hear how the legendary “Bird” influenced this talented young woman.

Although Grace Kelly has a nice voice, I prefer to enjoy her musicianship on saxophone. She not only sings on “True Love” but also on “Moon River.”  However, it’s her baritone saxophone solo on the “Mission Impossible Theme” that really blows my mind. I do enjoy Kelly’s vocal rendition of “I Wan’na be Like You” from The Jungle Book movie. The tune fits her tonal style.

On stage, Kelly is charismatic and charming, as you can witness below on a video filmed while she was performing ‘live’ at a St. Louis concert.

This is Grace Kelly’s fifteenth album release in a 20-year recording career and one of her biggest challenges. It appears Kelly just gets better with time.

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