Jazz and music lovers will be treated to a week of activities hosted by the Jazz Alliance of T&T (JATT) in celebration of the very first TnT Jazz Week being held in recognition of International Jazz Day 2013. The celebrations begin on Monday and end on June 28.Alto saxophonist Grace Kelly will be featured in the main event at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain, on June 28, from 8 pm.Trumpeter and Jazz at Lincoln Center artistic director Wynton Marsalis was so impressed with Kelly's three-night stand as guest of the center's orchestra that he invited her to join the ensemble at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC for President Barack Obama's Inauguration celebration. According to Marsalis, Kelly possesses the "...ability to adapt that is the hallmark of a first-class jazz musician." He also characterised her as having "a great amount of natural talent" and noted that she "...plays with intelligence, wit and
feeling..."
With such an endorsement, JATT officials expect Kelly's star power will light up the stage when she performs with the Sean Thomas quartet. The event is being hosted in collaboration withJATT's Diamond sponsor National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB); development partner sponsor, TTCSI and official broadcast partner CNMG. When it comes to singer/saxophonist/composer/ lyricist/arranger/producer and educator Kelly, people seem to be divided into two groups; those who marvel at her proficiency, creativity and ever-accelerating growth, and those who have yet to encounter the 20-year-old wunderkind. Bandleader Harry Connick Jr heard Kelly in a master class and brought her on stage to sit in with his band.
For four consecutive years Kelly has been voted Best Jazz Act in Boston in the FNX/Phoenix Best Music Poll and Best National Jazz Act in 2012. She has received the ASCAP Foundation's Young Jazz Composers Award in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2013 and won Jazz Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards in both 2008 and 2010. The 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Downbeat Critics Poll named her one of the "Alto Saxophone Rising Stars," the youngest artist ever to be named to the music poll.More on Kelly can be viewed at www.gracekelly.com
Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets early as Kelly brings meaning to the theme of the Jazz Week–"The Bridge Between Their Soul and Our Music."Advance tickets for this event are available at: LiveArt Bistro, 5 Albion Street, Port-of-Spain; Farida's Lifestyle Salon, West Mall, Westmooring; and, First Priority Music, Gulf City, La Romaine.
�2 On TnT Jazz Week: Call 625-7123/689-4298, e-mail jazzalliancett@gmail.com or visit Web site www.jazzalliance.org