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about
Kelly Brand
Kelly Brand,
a native of Evanston, Illinois, received her B.A. at the University of
Illinois, Champaign. While there she performed in innovative jazz bands led
by John Garvey and saxophonist Ron Dewar. After college Kelly returned to
Evanston and began her performing career in the Chicago area while
continuing to study at the Chicago Musical College with the renowned teacher
Ms. G. Golub. In 1982 Brand married bassist Kelly Sill and in 1990 their
daughter Naomi was born.
Brand is an
active performer on the Chicago jazz scene playing frequent club and concert
dates. In 1999 Kelly joined Marion McPartland on stage at Ravinia for a
double piano jazz performance. Ms. McPartland wrote for the notes on
Brand's first CD “a fine young pianist who plays with elegance and
sensitivity.”
In 2001 and
2003 Brand was awarded residencies at Ragdale, an internationally acclaimed
artists' retreat. She was chosen as one of the ten top Chicago jazz pianists
who performed at Symphony Center for Marshall Field’s Great Day of Music in
2003. Kelly has also performed at the Jazz Showcase, played on Joe Segal’s
All Star Caribbean Jazz Cruise and has performed a number of times at
Ravinia and the Chicago Jazz Festival both as a leader and sideman.
Brand’s most
recent 2008 CD, The Door, on the Origin label, includes nine of her
compositions and one Wayne Shorter song with Kelly’s new lyrics. Neil Tesser
in Jazzis writes “The latest and best album by Chicago pianist/composer
Kelly Brand...good stories told simply and well.” Robert Doerschuk of
Downbeat says “This group sizzles and swings through ten Brand
originals….The material is built for blowing.”
Brand
continues to be in demand for performances in public venues and private
events as a soloist, bandleader, and sideman. In addition she is an
experienced teacher and clinician and taught for the Merit School of Music.
Currently Kelly is a teaching artist in the Ravinia Music Discovery Program
and also plays and conducts clinics in the Chicago schools with Pangaea
featuring Ari Brown, Kelly Sill, and Avreal Ra. They are
sponsored by the International Music Foundation, an umbrella group of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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