Jazz Articles about Phil Kelly

Phil Kelly & the Northwest Prevailing Winds: Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles

by Dan McClenaghan
February 18, 2010

Phil Kelly spent four decades working the sunny Los Angeles trenches as a composer/arranger for film and television. He wrote music, as well, for more than five hundred television commercials. That was probably a heck of a nice way to pay the rent and put bread and butter on the table. But since his semi-retirement, he has moved into what surely must be his first musical love: big band writing and arranging.Kelly has produced two previous big band ...

Take Five With Phil Kelly

by AAJ Staff
February 2, 2007

Meet Phil Kelly: In addition to more than 40 years as a composer / arranger for film, TV, and other media applications, Phil has written for bands like Bill Watrous' NY Wildlife Refuge, the old Tonight Show band, Doc Severinsen and Si Zentner, as well as functioning as arranger / conductor / drummer for vocalists Buddy Greco, Julius LaRosa, Frank D'Rone, Sylvia Syms, John Gary, Jenny Smith, and Al “TNT" Braggs, among others.Early on in his career, he ...

Phil Kelly & The Santa Ana Winds: My Museum

by Edward Blanco
December 13, 2006

Ever so often one comes across an album that sparkles all over, leaving quite an impression, and such is the case with this recording led by composer/arranger Phil Kelly. My Museum is a cleverly crafted album of sensational big band charts, featuring five original compositions wrapped around several classic jazz standards, making for a muscular performance by an elite world-class orchestra. Kelly is no stranger to leading prime-time big band performances; this recording is a followup to his previous Grammy-nominated ...

Phil Kelly & the NW Prevailing Winds: Convergence Zone

by Jack Bowers
February 6, 2004

A “convergence zone" is where winds from all over gather together to blow up a storm, which is an entirely appropriate metaphor for this tempestuous new album by composer/arranger Phil Kelly & the NW Prevailing Winds--except that Kelly not only has those formidable winds at his command but muscular brass and rhythm as well.

The tornadic uproar begins with Kelly's tongue-in-cheek “Damp Brown Places" (apologies to Stephen Foster) and doesn't subside until trumpeter Jay Thomas, tenor Pete Christlieb, ...

Phil Kelly & The NW Prevailing Winds: Convergence Zone

by Dan McClenaghan
November 25, 2003

If you watch any television at all it's a good bet you've heard Phil Kelly's sound. Kelly has worked for forty years as a composer/arranger in film and TV, including over 700 national TV commercials. For Convergence Zone Kelly has assembled some of the finest studio and jazz players in the Northwest for a swinging, sassy set of big band jazz.The opener, “Damp Brown Places"--a sendup of “Camp Town Races"--sets an immediate tone for the recording: clean lines ...