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Chris Kelsey
In the 1990s, soprano saxophonist Chris Kelsey was a fixture on the Downtown New York scene, his fiery yet lissome horn lighting up the neighborhood’s bars and galleries—most notably the Knitting Factory, then the world’s epicenter of experimental music. He also chronicled the scene as a journalist, writing and reviewing for Cadence, Jazziz, JazzTimes, and more. His pen was as fearless as his music.
Then, in the early aughts, Kelsey stepped away.
The cultural aftershocks of 9/11 were a devastating blow to the Downtown scene. Venues like the Knitting Factory wilted and died. Kelsey’s live appearances became rare. By the late 2010s, he had stopped writing about jazz entirely. Many assumed he’d left the music behind.
They were wrong.
All the while, Kelsey was composing, recording, and evolving. After a series of acclaimed releases on the C.I.M.P. label, he found a home with Unseen Rain, the artist-run imprint led by guitarist Jack DeSalvo and drummer Tom Cabrera. He also reinvented himself as a novelist; each book in his Emmett Hardy crime series has appeared on Amazon’s best-seller lists. He also resurrected his dormant teaching career, becoming Director of Instrumental Music at Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, NY, while raising two children with his wife.
Old Bread, his latest Unseen Rain release, features Kelsey on soprano saxophone, Phil Sirois on bass, and Cabrera on drums. Drawing on the legacy of Ornette Coleman’s Golden Circle trio and Henry Threadgill’s Air, the album moves fluidly between lyricism and abrasion, tranquility and intensity—always anchored by a deep humanity that’s become all too rare on today’s jazz landscape.
Old Bread and Kelsey’s full Unseen Rain catalog (as well as his self-produced albums) are available on Bandcamp.
Contact: Tom Cabrera, Jack DeSalvo, Chris Kelsey
Awards
2013 Independent Music Award, Best Tribute Album: What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
Tags
Jazz Quanta January: Chris Kelsey and Tomas R. Einarsson
by C. Michael Bailey
There are two jazz traditions represented in Jazz Quant January, the freedom principle of saxophonist Christ Kelsey and cool complexity of Latin jazz by way of Icelander bassist Tomas R. Einarsson. Two traditions transplanted and allowed to flourish. Chris Kelsey Duets | NYC / Woodstock Tzazz Krytyk 2015 What happens with free jazz stalwarts saxophonist Chris Kelsey meets one Dom Minasi, the guitarist of the future past? A freedom ...
Continue ReadingChris Kelsey/Lewis Porter: Free: Kelsey/Porter Duo Plays Ornette, Vol. 1
by Dan Bilawsky
Intrepid saxophonist and recovering jazz journalist Chris Kelsey went to his longtime friend, renowned author-educator-pianist Dr. Lewis Porter, with the idea of recording some of Ornette Coleman's music. That's how Free came to be, plain and simple. But nothing is really that simple. Kelsey and Porter worked through this material for a year, allowing the music to have ample time to settle into the mind and soul, and then they recorded these seldom-performed pieces in March of 2015. The album ...
Continue ReadingChris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
Trumpeter Miles Davis' post-Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970), pre-hiatus (1975-1981) electric music--dense, loud, dark, funky, vast--has posed problems for musicians. The Yo Miles! collective, led by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Henry Kaiser, gamely approached it as a repertoire: these are songs, they seemed to say; let's just play them (and so they did, on albums like Upriver, Cuneiform, 2005). Bassist/impresario Bill Laswell, meanwhile, approached the releases of the period as post-performance collage, woven together from miles of Ampex tape; ...
Continue ReadingChris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
by Mehdi El Mouden
Chris Kelsey and What I Say say it all. The Electric Miles Project is definitely well thought-out, projected, masterfully arranged, and meticulously performed. Contrary to Miles Davis' school of thought, improvisation on this project seems not to have been part of the agenda. Kelsey clearly knows exactly how to pay tribute to the late legend and, to this purpose, avoids messing with the master: no trumpeter is featured on the album. To play in Miles Davis' shadow or to do ...
Continue ReadingChris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
by C. Michael Bailey
It takes no shortage of fortitude for contemporary artists to take on the electric Miles Davis. Banking off of his seminal Bitches' Brew (Columbia, 1970), the trumpeter headed for looser, louder and funkier fare, culminating in the twin two-disc releases, Agartha (Columbia, 1975) and Pangea (Columbia, 1976), two shows performed in the afternoon and evening of February 1, 1975 at Japan's Osaka Festival Hall. Laden with electric guitar, seditious percussion and an assortment of effects, Davis spins noisy magic off ...
Continue ReadingThe Chris Kelsey 4: Not Cool {. . .As In, "The Opposite of Paul Desmond"}
by Jerry D'Souza
Growing up as the son of a jazz saxophonist, saxophonist Chris Kelsey was influenced by his father's tastes in jazz. Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins were among those favorite artists, but Paul Desmond was not. Kelsey first heard Desmond on Bridge Over Troubled Water (A&M, 1969), his ode to Simon and Garfunkel, which was played just once in the Kelsey household. Desmond did not stir any emotions, though Kelsey admits that Desmond was “a fine player in his ...
Continue ReadingChris Kelsey Quartet: Renewal
by Derek Taylor
Sometimes a hiatus is the best answer to impending burnout. Soprano saxophonist Chris Kelsey recognized such signs and decided to shelve his horn in response to the stressors that were closing in. Also a writer, he seems to have hung up his quill for a spell as well. Time away from the rigors of creative improvised music allowed for the sort of perspective and focus that's encapsulated in his new album's single word title.
Kelsey's no neophyte to ...
Continue ReadingChris Kelsey - Not Cool (Tzazz Krytyk)
Source:
Master of a Small House
As playfully glib as ever, saxophonist Chris Kelsey couches his latest effort in an oppositional framework certain to arch a few eyebrows and maybe even roll a few eyes. His commentary to the disc commences with a caveat clarifying that his decision to sight Paul Desmond in his crosshairs isn't strictly motivated by disdain. Sure, he still attaches signifiers like “sappy", “wimpy" and “nerdy" to the much-lauded surname, but he's also careful to concede the Caucasian altoist's stature as “an ...
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Dom Minasi * Chris Kelsey * Tomas Ulrich Thursday, September 8 at Deep Listening Space
Source:
All About Jazz
August 29, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] CDM News Flash !! Dom Minasi * Chris Kelsey * Tomas Ulrich Thursday, September 8 at The New Vanguard Series at the gallery at Deep Listening Space, 75 Broadway(Historic Roundout), Kingston, New York. For reservations, please call (845) 338-5984. 8:30 PM http://www.deeplistening.org/ Upcoming: Thursday morning Sept.14 WKCR 1:30 AM Wed night (www.wkcr.org) Interview with Charles Blass..will bring some mixes from my new CD “Vampire's Revenge" Thursday, ...
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Dom Minasi /Chris Kelsey/Tomas Ulrich @ The Lucky Cat Lounge Thursday, July 21st, 9PM
Source:
All About Jazz
July 19, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] Thursday, July 21st, 9PM Chris Kelsey, Dom Minasi & Tomas Ulrich @ The Lucky Cat Lounge 245 Grand St(between Driggs & Roebling sts.) Williamsburg,Brooklyn 718-782-0437 http://www.theluckycat.com 8pm The Steve Swell Trio with Steve Swell, Michael T.A. Thompson, Matt Heyner 10pm Now Music with Ras Moshe, Matt Heyner, Ravi Padmanaba ,Claire DeBrunner ,Steve Swell, Katie Down, Saco Yasuma, Todd Nicholson *CBGB'S - the last time!! Sunday, July ...
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Dom Minasi with the Chris Kelsey Quintet CBGB'S Downstairs Lounge Sunday July 17th 10PM
Source:
All About Jazz
July 13, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] Sunday July 17th 10PM The Chris Kelsey Quintet featuring Chris Kelsey-soprano sax, Matt Lavelle-trumpet Dom Minasi-guitar, Francois Grillot-bass, Jay Rosen-drums @ • 313 Bowery• 212 677 0455 Upcoming Dates ! Thursday, July 21st, 9PM Chris Kelsey, Dom Minasi & Tomas Ulrich @ The Lucky Cat Lounge 245 Grand St(between Driggs & Roebling sts.) Williamsburg,Brooklyn 718-782-0437 http://www.theluckycat.com Sunday, July 31st Dom Minasi, Joe Giardullo, Ken Filiano, Roy ...
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“(A) provocateur in the best sense of the term: a player (and writer) who thrives on pushing buttons.” — Derek Taylor, All About Jazz
“At the forefront of the fiery reedists today ... ” — Gregory Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review,
Sonny Rollins
saxophone
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto
John Coltrane
saxophone
Eric Dolphy
woodwinds
Steve Lacy
saxophone, sopranoMusic
Videos
Chris Kelsey
Location: Poughkeepsie
Instrument: Saxophone, soprano
Born: June 5, 1961
