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Kelly Green

Kelly Green is an acclaimed pianist, vocalist, and composer based in NYC. Her piano playing is sophisticated and modern while being connected to the tradition and her voice harkens to the likes of Sarah Vaughan and Blossom Dearie. Green’s compositional style is refreshingly outside of the box while effortlessly maintaining its roots in the jazz canon. She performs with an empowered flare of diplomacy and elegance, displaying her undeniable love of music-making and of her audience.

She has headlined at illustrious clubs around the world including The Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s Club NYC (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and many more.

Her first two releases, “Life Rearranged” (2017) and “Volume One” Kelly Green Trio (2018) were highly praised by critics and feature the talents of luminaries such as Christian McBride and Josh Evans.

She has performed alongside some of the world's leading voices in jazz including Steve Wilson, George Coleman, and Rich Perry.

Kelly Green

Early Career

Born and raised in Florida, she began singing as a toddler and started piano lessons at age seven. At age eleven she became interested in jazz and began attending the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshop every year with her father, who is a professional bass player. Her senior year of high school she recorded and produced her own album of twelve original songs called “Aspire”.

She received her Bachelors in Jazz Studies- piano performance at the University of North Florida. She studied piano with accomplished jazz pianist, Lynne Arriale as well as voice with wonderful vocalist, Michelle Amato. She received the outstanding musician’s award her last three years at the University. While living in Jacksonville she performed weekly with her trio at the Ponte Vedra Lodge and Club. She also performed steadily at the Times Union Center, Lilly’s Coffee Shop, and Rhett’s Piano Bar as well as doing many private events at various locations. In May 2011, she competed in the Generation Next Youth Talent Competition at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival taking home first prize and a $2,000 savings bond for playing and singing Herbie Hancock’s “Eye of the Hurricane”.

Mid Career

In September 2012 she began her studies at William Paterson University where she received her Masters in Jazz Piano Performance. She took private lessons with acclaimed pianists Harold Mabern and James Weidman. She also had the privilege of taking a semester of arranging lessons with master Cecil Bridgewater and three semesters of classical piano lessons with the amazing pianist and educator Gary Kirkpatrick. While studying at William Paterson she was also able to perform in ensembles directed by the late master of the piano, Mulgrew Miller, as well as Bill Mobley, Armen Donelian, Rich Perry, Dave Rogers, and Bill Goodwin among others. For her last two semesters she was the pianist in the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra led by head of the WP Jazz Department, Dr. David Demsey. In this band she had the opportunity to perform with NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath and legendary jazz vibraphonist Steve Nelson. Kelly also received the Outstanding Graduate Music Student Award for her class. In June 2014 Kelly was chosen to be the pianist in the William Paterson Colombia Band, which toured three cities in Colombia, South America. In Colombia, the band taught at two week long jazz clinics and performed at three large concert halls.

Current Career

She has been holding down a weekly performance with her trio at The Flatiron Room, every Friday from 9pm-12am for the past 5 years. In December 2016 she recorded her debut album "Life Rearranged"(2017) including wonderful musicians Christian McBride, Steve Nelson, Josh Evans, Kush Abadey, Jovan Alexandre, Matt Dwonszyk, Noam Israeli, Tamir Shmerling, and Mike Troy. Summer of 2018 was busy with touring Colombia, South America and Florida with her trio and recording their debut album (released Dec 5th, 2018)! "Volume One" by the Kelly Green Trio. In 2019, she travelled with her trio to San Francisco to perform at the Black Cat, performed their album release celebration at Birdland Theater, as well as played a ten day tour down the east coast of the US. She also performed with her trio at the Kennedy Center in June and travelled with her newly formed duo, Green Soul, featuring bassist Luca Soul to perform in Greece, Barcelona, Copenhagen, and Paris. In February 2019, Kelly recorded two duo songs with alto player TK Blue on a tribute album to the great Randy Weston called "The Rhythms Continue", in released November 2019. In 2020 Kelly Green and Luca Soul created a performance, recording, and art space in Queens called Green Soul Studios where they have been producing their own concert series and recording content throughout the past three years. In 2021 she recorded with Luca Soul Rosenfeld and the legendary Daniel Carter at her home studio Green Soul Studios . She released self-engineered, mixed, and mastered album of 11 spontaneously composed pieces called "Endings That Are Beginnings" in September of 2022. In March 2023 she recorded at Bunker Studios with her long-standing trio and their newest quartet collaborator Elijah J. Thomas on flute, alto flute, and piccolo with Rich Perry (tenor saxophone) featured on two tracks. Their album "Seems" will be release on March 29th 2024 with Green Soul Studios and La Reserve Records.