Biography

Jazz vibraphonist Rickey Kelly, who recently completed recording his new album "A Man of Distinction," knew from the first moment he heard the sound of a jazz band exactly what he was going to do with his life. That initial encounter with jazz, which happened to Kelly some forty years ago when he was just a young high school student, truly charted his life's direction.
"When I heard that group, my life changed at the moment. I said, I want to do this the rest of my life," Kelly recalled in a recent interview.
And that is exactly what he did with the rest of his life. Through the years, this accomplished and amazingly talented artist has worked with some of the greatest names in jazz, including the renowned drummer Billy Higgins; guitar sensation Kenny Burrell; and the incomparable intergalactic pianist Sun Ra. Legendary session flautist Hubert Laws, whose credits read like a list of who's who of jazz, guests on a couple tracks on Kelly's brand new recording "A Man of Distinction." Kelly is also well-known in jazz circles for his work in the group African Roots of Jazz and his playing style isn't limited to jazz either - he also performed in touring band of the funk act The Crusaders for a period.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Kelly served a four-year stint in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War before embarking on his musical career. One of his early inspirations and a pivotal event for Kelly was a chance to jam in the same club as the pioneering jazz vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. That experience led Kelly to move from San Fransisco to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in L.A. City College for its first-rate music program. Among his fellow students was the famous jazz singer Diane Reeves.
It was shortly after finishing the City College program that Kelly founded the African Roots of Jazz band, a group that featured drummer E.W. Wainwright Jr. of McCoy Tyner's band. African Roots of Jazz enjoyed quite a following in the Los Angeles area but around 1974, Kelly moved to Amsterdam, where there were more and more lucrative opportunities for a young jazz musician.
Upon returning to the states, Kelly released his first solo recording in 1979, "My Kind of Music," on the Los Angeles Phonograph Records label. The album was quite well-received: Billboard Magazine made it one of its 'recommended' jazz recordings for the year. Another one of his albums during that period was the classic "Limited Stops Only." released on the Nimbus Records label.
The only thing to have sidetracked Kelly's musical career through the years has been another passion of his - SCUBA diving. Kelly most literally immersed himself in diving, so much that it turned into a job for him - he dropped out of the music scene for a time to work as a dive instructor.
Somehow, in between dives, Kelly managed to pop out another album in 1995, a fantastic quintet recording called "Here's To Good People." Complementing Kelly's vibes on that album are the adept drum work of Ralph Penland; the nimble bass lines of Robert Hurst; the outstanding pianist Patrice Rushen; and the masterful and expressive violinist Michael White. The songs on "Here's To Good People" include the frenetic, kinetic "New Samba"; the eclectic, avant-garde leaning "Inner Madness"; and the introspective, mellow "Somewhere I've Never Been."
Kelly called on the same group for his new recording, "A Man of Distinction," which is set to be released later this year or in early 2008. Also appearing on two of the album's tracks is the distinguished flautist Hubert Laws. As Kelly recalls it, Laws was also working with drummer Ralph Penland and stopped by the studio to check out what Kelly's band was doing. After hearing a couple takes, Laws asked if he could add a flute part to a track or two, much to the group's delight.
"After he heard what we were doing, he just asked to play on them," said Kelly.
Kelly, now 58 and living in Port Townsend, WA, is glad to be back concentrating on music and looking forward to the release of "A Man of Distinction." It will be an album no jazz fan will want to miss! For more information on Rickey Kelly, contact GlobeSound Inc. at 802-860-7110 or send an email to svanetten@jpmc.com.