Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso started playing professionally in and around Detroit, Michigan where he was born in 1964. Jon began early, playing in a big band at age 11, in the International Youth Symphony at age 13, and in a concert alongside Wild Bill Davison at age 17. Kellso played with a wide variety of groups there, including the J.C. Heard Orchestra.
In '88 Jon-Erik joined James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band with whom he's made appearances throughout North America, concertized on PBS TV and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., performed on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion live Public Radio International show, and recorded extensively.
Since moving to New York City in 1989 to join Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, Jon has enjoyed performing and recording with the likes of Ralph Sutton, Dan Barrett, Howard Alden, Marty Grosz, Milt Hinton, Dick Hyman, Banu Gibson, Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, Leon Redbone, Ken Peplowski, and Kenny Davern.
Recent engagements include recording a soundtrack with Wynton Marsalis for a movie about Buddy Bolden (called "Bolden"); a week at Jazzland in Vienna, Austria; several tours of Italy with Brock Mumford; concerts as a featured soloist in the U.K., Germany and Australia; annual appearances in jazz clubs and at the French Quarter Festival and Jazz Fest in New Orleans; and jazz parties and festivals throughout the United States and Europe.
Other bands that Kellso is currently a member of in addition to Dapogny's, Giordano's, and (Matt Munisteri's) Brock Mumford are: (Orange Kellin's) Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra, & David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Centennial Band (a.k.a. the Gully Low Jazz Band).
Kellso can be heard on several television and movie soundtracks, including the Nickelodeon children's show "Blue's Clues," and the recent movies "Ghost World," "The Aviator," and "The Good Shepherd," with Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. Watch and listen for him in "Revolutionary Road," with Giordano, DeCaprio, and Winslet next year!
Jon has been featured several times on Arbors Records, including three CDs as a leader and two (with more to be released) with Ruby Braff. His latest from Arbors is entitled "Blue Roof Blues: A Love Letter to New Orleans."
Joe Lang wrote for the July/August '07 issue or Jersey Jazz:
"Blue Roof Blues: A Love Letter to New Orleans" (Arbors – 19346) is an
exceptional album. Conceived as a tribute to the city that suffered so much from the devastation of Katrina, it is a triumph that evinces both the pain and joy of the city.
Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso assembled a company of outstanding musicians who are steeped in the traditional jazz sounds of the Crescent City, but who are constantly taking the music to places where it has not been before. This creative crew, in addition to Kellso, is Evan
Christopher on clarinet, Matt Munisteri on guitar and banjo, Danton Boller on bass and Marion Felder on drums. Kellso once again proves that his is a unique and exceptional voice on trumpet.
In addition, this album highlights his strength as a composer who honors the tradition, but adds a personal and contemporary sensitivity.
Christopher is a player who mirrors Kellso’s eclecticism. Munisteri, Boller and Felder keep things vibrant and moving.
The program includes five tracks written by Kellso, “Just Like That,†“Blue Roof Blues,†“Door No. 4,†“Just Like This†and “Just Like This, Just Like That,†the latter being a combining and reworking of the two earlier pieces. Most of the other tunes are drawn from the traditional jazz catalog, “Panama,†“Weary Blues,†“Why†and “Hindustan.†Also included are Duke Ellington’s “Way Way Back,†and Thelonious Monk’s “Bye-Ya.†The Monk tune might seem like a fish out of water in this context, but once you hear it, you will understand that their reconception of this song is appropriate and magnificent.
Given the space limits dictated by the type of reviews that I write, I shall resist the temptation to explore the virtues of each individual track. Suffice to say that you will find that each of them is a gem. This is an album that is ostensibly aimed at an audience inclined toward the sounds of traditional New Orleans Jazz, and, indeed, it will certainly find great favor with those devotees. Give it a listen, however, and you will hear music that defies classification. I expect that there will be many who consider themselves modernists in their taste being drawn to the music on "Blue Roof Blues."
His debut album, "Chapter One" captured the attention of noted jazz critic Owen Cordle, who wrote, "Kellso has a fluent gift of melody and a knack for spicing it up with a Roy Eldridge-like rasp, a Howard McGhee-like excitability, and Rex Stewart-like tonal effects. Kellso debuts with a warm, swing-oriented session with no stray notes. The effortless, swinging mood is sustained throughout all 13 performances. Kellso is a most welcome discovery."
In Scott Yanow's recently published book entitled "Swing," Kellso's "Chapter 2: The Plot Thickens" received 9 of 10 stars. He is described as being "one of the finest Mainstream and trad cornetists to emerge during the 1990's." Jon is also honored to be in Yanow's "Trumpet Kings" book.
Jack Sohmer reviewed "Chapter 2" for the Mississippi Rag, writing, "Kellso emerges as one of today's most fulfilling mainstream trumpeters and cornetists. His poignant, rounded tone suggests a seamless combination of Buck Clayton, Bill Coleman, Cootie Williams, Frankie Newton, and Roy Eldridge, a synthesis of which anyone may be justifiably proud. From the listener's point of view, it is difficult to think of anyone, save Ruby Braff, who so successfully embodies the best traditions of the past while at the same time bringing them convincingly into the present. Kellso is telling his story in the hallowed tradition of great yarn-spinners throughout history. He entertains, informs, and keeps our interest whetted for the next installment."
To see my gig schedule, go to my website: www.KellsoJazz.com
http://www.kellsojazz.com/schedule.htm
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Myspace Comments | Myspace Graphics | Myspace SurveysHere's a video of me playing two songs (with some talk in between) with pianist Judy Carmichael's band on the Jo Suarez Show (the equivalent to the Tonight Show in Brazil) in August, '07:
