Sax appeal
Jazz musician, singer Grace Kelly to perform at ABQ BioPark Zoo
Downtime from a six-week tour for Grace Kelly includes a little more traveling. The short trip was to celebrate her mom’s birthday. “My mom never had a surprise party in her life,” she says in a recent interview. “We did all the planning with my dad. She was so happy about this.”
After some much-needed family time, Kelly will resume work as a musician.
The 26-year-old saxophone player and singer has been making music since she was 12.
She also recently released the album “Go Time Brooklyn,” which is also a video album.
“We released the videos on YouTube,” she says. “The songs were from my live sessions in Brooklyn, and I had it pressed for CD and digital release. I’m also getting ready to press ‘Go Time Brooklyn 2.’”
The jazz musician enjoys staying busy with not only performing, but also running the business side of her career.
She is often creating content for her fans and releasing it online.
Most recently, she’s been working on fulfilling the “perks” to her fans who donated via PledgeMusic to fund her album “Go Time Brooklyn.”
“I have the most amazing fan base, and they helped overfund this project,” she says. “I’m making videos for them, and it’s like a badge of support. It’s difficult for an independent artist to make it. With the help of the fans, they help make it possible for me.”
Kelly tries to structure her day to include writing and composing. This is so she doesn’t solely focus on the business side.
“It’s like having one foot in both worlds,” she says. “The one thing I am really adamant about is sleep. I know for myself, in order to function, I need eight hours of sleep. It’s worth getting in some extra sleep. If I’m not at 100 percent each time I perform, people will notice.”
When it comes to writing, Kelly also enjoys all that comes with it.
“Once I get into creative mode, I’m there,” she says. “In the process of writing music, I’m trying to experience more things. A lot of my songs come from beautiful conversations.”
Kelly is also looking forward to coming back to Albuquerque to perform at the ABQ BioPark Zoo.
She last performed there a few years ago. “I remember telling the crowd that the next song was up-tempo,” she says. “Then we started playing and the ducks in the pond in front of the stage began to chase each other, almost in a dancing way. It was one of the coolest moments of the show.”