If you'd like to listen to excerpts from my recordings, you can do so at Arbors Records' website, iTunes, or on my MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jonerikkellso, or at Amazon.com.
NEWSFLASH(ES):
My most recent Arbors Records CD is called, "Blue Roof Blues: A Love Letter to New Orleans," with Evan Christopher-clarinet, Matt Munisteri-guitar/banjo/vocal, Danton Boller-bass, and Marion Felder-drums. Contact me to get your copy, or Arbors Records. It is dedicated to all my friends in New Orleans, and all those affected by Hurricane Katrina. I'm very proud of this album. The musical chemistry is pretty special--these guys are some major players, in case you didn't know. We played some good old good ones, and some tunes I wrote for the occasion:
1) Just Like That (Kellso)
2) Panama (Tyers)
3) Blue Roof Blues (Kellso)
4) Bye-Ya (Monk) done with a Second Line street beat
5) Way Way Back (Ellington)
6) Door Number 4 (Kellso)
7) Just Like This (Kellso/Christopher) Evan wrote some beautiful lyrics for this one--AFTER we recorded the album. I hope you get to hear them someday--we'll work on that.
8) Weary Blues (Greene/Cates/Matthews)
9) Why (Morton/Werec) with vocal by Munisteri
10) Hindustan (Wallace/Weeks)
11) Just Like This, Just Like That (Kellso)
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."
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My even brand-newer release is entitled "Remembering Ruby," a heartfelt tribute to the great cornetist Ruby Braff, recorded live in the Sirius Sattelite Radio studio for Mike Peters' radio show one month after Braff's passing. Joining me on this are Scott Robinson on tenor sax, baritone sax and bass clarinet, Mark Shane on piano, Mike Peters on (acoustic) guitar, Frank Tate on bass, and Joe Ascione on drums. It was mixed and mastered by trumpeter/engineer extraordinaire Bryan Shaw/Digital Brothers, and it's on the Gen-Erik Records label. You can get one from me, or from eBay or Amazon, where you can use Paypal or a credit card to purchase one. It's also available from World's Records, a great on-line music store.
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My 2005 "Kellso's BC Buddies" CD was my first recording as a leader in 11 years (although I was on everybody else's records during that time, hehe). You can hear a few of the tracks and even download one or two from my MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jonerikkellso
This CD is available from World's Records; via Amazon.com from my friend at soundandimage, if you'd like to use a credit card--and also eBay.
ORRR e-mail me at jonnygig@gmail.com to purchase the new CD directly from me (autographed at no extra charge!).
The "BC" stands for British Columbia--I recorded this at my pal Simon Stribling's studio in Vancouver, Canada, with Don Ogilvie on acoustic guitar (and amplified guitar on 1 track, and oud on one song!), Lauri Lyster on drums and percussion, Sean Cronin on bass, and guest appearances by Bria Skonberg on vocals, and Simon Stribling on trumpet, alto sax, and tenor sax. I even sing one song (a first--bound to make this a collector's item)! Fun stuff, a nice mix of traditional jazz, mainstream, swing, whatever ya wanna call the kind of stuff I do.
track listing for "Kellso's BC Buddies":
1. The Blue Room (Rodgers and Hart) 4:24
2. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (Harry Barris/Ted Koehler/Billy Moll) 7:42
3. My Honey's Loving Arms (Herman Ruby/Joseph Meyer) 7:00 with a vocal by me (this is a first, and maybe a last!) and Stribo on tenor sax.
4. I Surrender, Dear (Harry Barris/Gordon Clifford) 5:22 '30
5. When Lights Are Low (Benny Carter/Spencer Williams)6:13
6. My Walkin' Stick (Irving Berlin) 3:59 (I unleash my plunger with nipple mute on this one, look out!)
7. If You Never Come To Me (a.k.a. Inutil Paisagem) (Antonio Carlos Jobim) 6:47 w/oud and misc. percussion. Exotic--sexy--even better than Ravel's Bolero for...
8. Somebody Loves Me (George Gershwin/Ballard MacDonald/B.G.DeSylva) 4:01 w/vocal by rising star Bria Skonberg.
9. Who (Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach/Oscar Hammerstein II) 5:27 w/Stribo on alto sax.
10. If We Never Meet Again (Louis Armstrong/Horace Gerlach) 5:08 w/Stribo on trumpet.
56:03 total
This is on the "Gen-Erik Records" label.
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My first album as a leader, "Chapter One" is available on cassette tape (the CD is out of print) from Arbors Records' website .
Unfortunately my "Chapter 2: The Plot Thickens" Arbors CD is also out of print (at least for the time being), but I think you can still find a few copies at World's Records' website.
Hey--just found out that these out of print Arbors CDs are now available on iTunes! These were my 1st two CDs as a leader, "Chapter One," recorded in 1993, and "Chapter Two: The Plot Thickens," 1995. You can hear samples of all the tunes, and buy individual songs for a buck each, or buy and download either album for just $7.95!
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Also available from Arbors is "The Johnny Varro Quartet with Jon-Erik Kellso: All That Jazz," as well as several other CDs that I'm on. (Click on Arbors Records, then click on record store, then enter "Kellso" where it says "artist" to search their site for albums I'm on.)
I'm also featured as co-leader on Jump Records' "Remembering Louis" CD, along with Ken Peplowski, Marty Grosz, and Vince Giordano. Also check out "Chasing the Spots," featuring Marty Grosz, Scott Robinson, Randy Reinhart, Dan Block, Vince Giordano, Arnie Kinsella & me.
For you Marty Grosz fans, I'm also on his new Arbors CD, "Marty Grosz and his Hot Combination," along with Peplowski, Robinson, Dapogny, Giordano, Greg Cohen, and Arnie Kinsella.
There is a live CD available from Nif Nuf records in Australia featuring me at the Bob Barnard Jazz Party from 2001, fun stuff.
I am also featured on several CDs on the Stomp Off label as well as the Nagel-Heyer label. Check out their websites by clicking away--buying CDs this way is easy as pie. But I've never tried baking a pie, so....
You can also purchase most of my CDs, or one of the 80-some CDs I'm featured on (or is it now 90-some? Do I hear 100??) via Jazz By Mail, World's Records , or other on-line sources.