Saxophonist Grace Kelly pays tribute to Frank Morgan
Virtual Taos Jazz Festival
SINCE 2015, the Taos Jazz Bebop Society has celebrated the legacy of jazz saxophonist Frank Morgan by launching and continuing an annual festival in his name. The Frank Morgan Taos Jazz Festival has featured many of the great jazz performers who played alongside Frank Morgan. Each year, the young and enthusiastic musical prodigy Grace Kelly has also come out to pay her tributes to her mentor. This year, with the pandemic shutting down live music, the Taos Jazz Bebop Society has joined forces with Kelly to create a virtual festival featuring Grace Kelly with bandmembers Julia Adamy (acoustic bass), Ross Pederson (drums) and Devon Yesberger (piano). There will also be a segment with Kelly and special guest pianist George Cables who was a longtime collaborator with Frank Morgan.
On Wednesday (Dec. 23) the 2020 Frank Morgan Taos Jazz Festival premieres online at 7:30 p.m. MST. The link to the performance will be posted at taosjazz.org. Following the premiere, the performance will be available online on an ongoing basis.
While the festival performance is free to watch, donations to the Taos Jazz Alive Fund are greatly appreciated. The first round of fundraising for the fund raised $13,000, with a matching grant of $5,000 from the Kind World Foundation. This first round of funds was distributed to jazz musicians who have played with Taos Jazz Bebop Society throughout its history. The second round has been funded with a matching grant for $5,000 donated by a foundation that prefers to remain
anonymous. The Taos Jazz Bebop Society hopes to raise an additional $5,000 for a total of $10,000. Funds raised will be distributed to Taos musicians who have lost important income due to the pandemic.
I caught up with Grace Kelly by phone from her home in Queens, New York, where the 28-year-old musician has hunkered down in her home studio since the pandemic began. Below is an edited version of our exchange.
Can you give me a brief summary of what you have been doing, musically speaking, for this year?
I’ve been performing in quite a few virtual concerts since all of our physical concerts basically shut down since March. It’s been great to create new sets of music for different virtual galas. I was staying pretty active doing my own streams as well and spending a lot of time writing new music in the demo stage. This pandemic has given me breathing room to slow down with the creative process instead of having it be so deadline-driven like it has been in the past. It’s been more of an experimental time to create new works. A lot of my other time has been going to building up my online teaching business. I’ve actually taught over a thousand students via group Zoom since March. We’re going to be launching a very special online master class very soon. I’ve really been able to take this time to develop that curriculum. I think it’s going to be 45 videos and over eight hours of video content, from fundamentals on the saxophone to extended techniques to how to get over stage fright and career chats.
Is this for saxophone students?
It’s primarily for saxophone students, but I think some other musicians might be interested in the stage performance segment and even the building your career as an independent artist segment, but most of our targeted demographic right now and the people who have studied with me have all been young saxophonists. It’s been fun. It’s very fulfilling, too. My other love besides performing is teaching, but I haven’t had this opportunity before to be able to dive in deep, just because it’s hard to juggle with touring. So, it’s been a very enriching experience these last few months to really have personal connections with my students and figure out how to explain a lot of the techniques that I’ve developed. I think it’s a very positive impact for a lot of people who
have spent lockdown trying to just be with their instruments and find a positive silver lining in these times.
Can you say a little bit more about what about teaching you find enriching?
I love that moment where I’m teaching someone and they have a lightbulb moment, something connects for them. Being part of someone’s process and empowering them to then be able to move forward with their musical journey and their expression is very exciting because as a creator of anything, but in this case music, you’re able to take the emotions that are inside of you and then express them to others. I feel I’ve learned so much from my mentors. I’ve been so fortunate to have that oneon-one time with Frank Morgan, Phil Wood, Lee Konitz, people that were not teaching a lot of people, but they took an interest in my playing and in me. They taught me so many things, personally. I feel this is one of the ways that I’m able to give back to the community and think about things they’ve taught me and what I’ve learned in the process and then pass it down to somebody else who then will pass it to someone
else that will change their perspective on something. That’s that oral lineage that I think is very important that keeps going in the music world.
You touched on it a little bit, but do you want to say more about how the pandemic has affected you, either personally or artistically, this year?
I think it’s been very eye-opening just to see and feel what the world is like without live music, and without this sense of connection. So many of us are used to performing live, and the connection that comes from dancing and singing with other people and being together and hugging each other, and suddenly there’s this big silence. It’s just a big pause. It makes me remember exactly why I do this, and the power of bringing people together with music because music allows the heart and spirit to come alive. I do think we have all been dealing with this undercurrent of stress through this whole time, so I do believe when the world is back to a safe place, the release that people need physically and emotionally will come from bringing that live music back. Because there’s nothing quite like it. We’re lucky that we have technology to connect us but there’s nothing like that physical experience. I’ve learned a lot about adapting. I think I’ve really put on my entrepreneurial hat. How can I bring value to my fans, my customers? What else can I be creating, can I be teaching? How else can I impact? Because of the necessity, it’s actually allowed me to be stronger at everything – a stronger entrepreneur, teacher, performer, and to think outside of the box, which is what we do in jazz, but I hadn’t been stretched to do that on the entrepreneur side of things. At the beginning of the pandemic, I set up my whole home studio and really got serious about all that.
Looking ahead to 2021, what’s on the horizon for you and your music?
I’ve really been spending this time experimenting musically and being in my own cave coming up with tons of different song ideas. My process is figuring out what I really like and what I want to flesh out, a lot of them are drafts. So, I think in the new year, coming up with a whole catalog of music and stepping into some different musical territories and making the videos that are fitting for that. Because I like thinking about the sonic thing, but I also love thinking about the visual aspect of videos and photos and how to create an experience for someone. It’s not just about the one note. It’s like when you step into this musical journey, what does it feel like, what does it look like, what does it sound like? So, there’s going to definitely be a lot of new music in 2021. I’m still trying to figure out what touring will even be like, look like. And, then, having an online master class and having a new brand of being out there as an educator is very exciting. I see a lot of potential opportunities for that. I’m also working on creating a signature line of saxophone gear. I’m looking forward to 2021 being a very creative year.
In terms of the new music you’re thinking of releasing, are you thinking of releasing it as a collection or singles or do you know yet?
That’s a really good question. I don’t know yet. I’m contemplating. Whatever it is, I’m definitely going to be doing everything as a video and audio release. With the start of my “GO TiME: Brooklyn” album, I really experienced the power of putting a video up on YouTube – an in-studio, high-quality video. The amount of people that then find that video and have a very strong
emotional feeling towards it versus just having the audio is a huge difference. So many more people found me and have become fans of my music simply because they’ve been searching on YouTube. So, I feel we really have to use these tools and embrace them because people are intaking their content in all sorts of ways.
As far as your music, you said you were doing some experimenting with it, going in some different directions. Can you say a little more about that?
Yeah. I have a lot of influences from traditional jazz and my background in that, but also in contemporary music and music with beats and grooves, and world music, and I’ve been writing kind of folky songs ever since I was little, including one of my songs “Feels Like Home” which won a Song of the Year award for the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. At this point I have different followers who follow me. Some for the jazzy stuff. Some follow me and only know me for my singer-songwriter work. I’m going to find a world, a sonic world where that all fits together. I think embracing this fluidness is a great thing and is the way that the music industry is headed. I don’t think that artists should have to put themselves into a box, saying this is jazz, this is a singersongwriter, this is groove. I’m really playing with those ideas as I create my new music.
That sounds very Taos-like, if I may say so.
Well, when I’m there in Taos it’s so apparent to me that the listeners are so open, musically. People are there to hear great music, but nobody’s labeling what it is. I think we need more of that coming from both the creator side and from the audience side, that openness.
So, Dec. 23 is when you’ll be doing your concert to celebrate Frank Morgan’s birthday?
It’s celebrating Frank Morgan’s birthday and it’s also the Frank Morgan Jazz Festival. I’m so happy that they’re able to make it still happen this year, even though it’s virtually. So, all of those things combined. But they did pick that day because, indeed, it’s his birthday.
Are you going to be singing as well as playing sax?
Yeah, my band and I went into the studio and recorded a brand new set of music. A lot of the songs being songs I played with Frank, some of his favorite songs, really paying tribute to him. Our goal is that the listeners as they watch online will really feel like they are there in concert. We worked hard to make sure the production value is top-notch.
Can you say a little bit about why it’s important to you to celebrate Frank Morgan and his music?
Frank was, and is, one of my favorite saxophonists on this whole planet. I remember first hearing his music before I personally knew him. It sounded like he was crying out and expressing his whole heart with the saxophone, the way that he’d go from literally a whisper, playing so beautifully and so softly, to playing a flurry of notes, but with so much passion and energy. His sound is one of my favorites. He has one of my all-time favorite sounds on the instrument and has been a huge influence on me since I was younger. I never imagined I’d get to meet him, and I certainly never imagined that we’d have such a close relationship and that he’d be a mentor to me. Of all the people that I’ve gotten to know in my music career, my relationship with Frank definitely felt like one of the most personal ones. At one point we just kind of adopted each other. He was Grandpa Frank and I was his granddaughter and we’d talk every day on the phone. When we were together it was a family outing. My parents and he were very close. We’d all go out to meals together. We just had so many special memories. When I think of Frank it goes right straight to my heart. I learned so much from him on the stage and off the stage, musically and about life. Especially in the time that I knew him where he was, I think, much more in his reflective process. That’s why it means so much to me every time I do go play at the Taos Jazz Festival. I’m literally thinking of Frank with every note, and our relationship. And, I know a lot of people in Taos knew him personally or went to see him play. So, there is that personal connection with all of us. It often feels like I’m playing for family when I’m in Taos. I have the best memories.
Do you want to say anything about the Taos Jazz Bebop Society which has put on this festival now for many years?
I love them dearly, with all my heart and soul. They are absolutely incredible. I met Eric Gladstone when I was in my preteens, or maybe teens, anyway early on, and he’d see me with Frank Morgan and we developed a connection then, but it’s blossomed since then. He’s just the greatest guy. And, everybody who works so hard to make it happen. Judy Katzman, and the whole Taos Jazz Bebop Society, put in so much love and passion and I know it’s not easy to make this happen. They work so hard and it’s powered by the love for the music and the people and the artists. As an artist I really feel that love from them. And, they do a fantastic job. I’ve played a lot of professional festivals, and to be honest the Taos Jazz Fest has been – how do I say this? – it functions like a topnotch international jazz festival the way that they run this, and the care and the love and the thought that they put into it. They’re the reason why this festival is able to happen so I’m eternally grateful to Eric and to everyone who’s part of it for making this be in the world.
The pandemic has hit everybody really hard, but particularly musicians and performing artists. I’m wondering if you have any words of encouragement for musicians, sound crews and venues who are struggling right now?
I think one thing we all need to remember is to take a step back and there will come a time when we will have a new normal and things will be back to live performances. I feel the uncertainty of when, and how, it’s going to come back is very stressful, but just a reminder that it will. And that what you do as a creator or behind the scenes absolutely matters and is an integral part of people’s lives. Live music allows the heart and the spirit to become alive, and we need that more than ever because of what we’ve gone through as a nation during this pandemic. It’s going to be up to these creators and people who work in the industry to help revive the spirits and the hearts and the souls whenever we are able to step back into it. So, if there’s a feeling that you don’t matter, you definitely do. This silence has been really hard for all of us, so it’s going to be beautiful when we can all be together again.
For more information, visit taosjazz. org, gracekellymusic.com and georgecables.com or contact the Taos Jazz Bebop Society at info@taosjazz.org or (575) 758-3147.