Draft:Phil Kelly

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Phil Kelly (December 16, 1937 – November 22, 2023) was an American jazz composer, arranger and drummer, known both for his long career writing music for film, television and commercials and for his later big band recordings as a leader.^[1][2] He released three widely reviewed big band albums on Origin Records – Convergence Zone (2003/2004), My Museum (2006) and Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles (2010) – which drew critical praise in the jazz press and earned a Grammy nomination for Convergence Zone.^[3][4][5]

Kelly was born Philip Gene Kelly on December 16, 1937.^[1] Early in his career he worked primarily as a jazz drummer, performing with bandleaders and pianists such as Terry Gibbs, Red Garland and Denny Zeitlin, and working extensively as a studio drummer.^[1] By the late 1960s and 1970s he had also become active as an arranger and conductor for vocalists including Buddy Greco, Julius LaRosa, Frank D’Rone, Sylvia Syms, John Gary, Jenny Smith and Al "TNT" Braggs.^[1][6]

From the 1970s onward Kelly built a forty-plus–year career as a composer and arranger for film, television and other media.^[1] He wrote music for ESPN, ABC Sports and NFL Films, and composed or arranged the music for hundreds of national television and radio commercials for clients such as Cadillac, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, American Airlines and Zales Jewelers.^[1][2] Based in the Dallas–Fort Worth jingle scene for much of this period, he contributed to production houses including PAMS and SPOT, and wrote commercial themes such as the 1978 Six Flags song "Six Flags in Your Imagination".^[7][8]

Kelly also worked extensively in orchestral pops. He served for more than 25 years as the primary arranger for the Fort Worth Symphony Pops series and wrote symphonic arrangements that were performed by orchestras including the Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati and North Carolina symphony orchestras.^[2]

In the late 1990s Kelly relocated to the Pacific Northwest, settling in Bellingham, Washington.^[1][9] There he assembled a large ensemble of Seattle-area studio and jazz musicians under the name **Northwest Prevailing Winds** and began focusing on big band writing.

Kelly’s first big band album as a leader, Convergence Zone, was recorded in 2003 and released on Origin Records in 2003/2004.^[9][4] Featuring soloists such as trumpeter Jay Thomas, baritone saxophonist Bill Ramsay and tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb, the recording was noted in reviews for its modern big band writing and for blending Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles players.^[4] Convergence Zone received a nomination for a Grammy Award for its arranging and brought Kelly wider attention as a big band leader.^[3][5][6]

In 2006 Kelly followed with My Museum, recorded in Los Angeles with a largely L.A.-based ensemble billed as the **Southwest Santa Ana Winds**.^[3] The album mixed Kelly originals with standards by Duke Pearson and others and featured a full string section on the title track. Reviewers in publications such as All About Jazz, Cadence, JazzTimes and Audiophile Audition praised the recording for its inventive charts, ensemble sound and solo work, and My Museum was later included in JazzTimes’ list of the 50 best jazz CDs of 2007.^[3][10][11]

Kelly’s third Origin release, Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles (2010), reunited him with the Northwest Prevailing Winds and continued his series of large-ensemble projects.^[12] In a review for JazzTimes, Harvey Siders highlighted the album’s humor, intricate scoring and use of an all-star roster of West Coast soloists.^[13]

Critics frequently described Kelly as a writer who combined classic big band traditions with contemporary harmonic language and a strong sense of humor in titling and thematic material.^[4][13] Reviews of his big band recordings compared his ensembles to the work of arrangers such as Bill Holman and Sammy Nestico and noted the clarity of his voicings, use of counterpoint and idiomatic writing for brass and reeds.^[10][3] Convergence Zone and My Museum in particular were cited as examples of modern big band albums that balanced strong solo features with carefully structured ensemble passages.^[4][10][5]

Beyond his recordings as a leader, Kelly’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by professional big bands, university and high-school jazz ensembles, and specialty brass groups in the United States, Canada and Japan, and several of his charts are published and distributed through jazz publishers such as Walrus Music and eJazzLines.^[14]

In semi-retirement Kelly continued to write commissioned arrangements and to work in education. He served as a big band coach at the Bud Shank Centrum Jazz camp in Port Townsend, Washington, and appeared as a clinician in film scoring and media music at colleges around the United States.^[1][2] Despite developing macular degeneration in his later years, he remained musically active and engaged with new jazz recordings.^[6]

Kelly spent his later years in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife Kathy Kelsey Pruitt Kelly and their family, and was known personally for his humor and love of beagles, which later inspired the title of Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles.^[6][12] He died in Bellingham on November 22, 2023, at the age of 85.^[6][15]

• Convergence Zone – Phil Kelly & the Northwest Prevailing Winds (Origin Records, 2003/2004)^[9]
• My Museum – Phil Kelly & the SW Santa Ana Winds (Origin Records, 2006)^[3]
• Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles – Phil Kelly & the Northwest Prevailing Winds (Origin Records, 2010)^[12]

• Sweet Georgia Upside Down – big band chart, recorded on Convergence Zone and performed by the NBC Orchestra.^[2]
• Numerous commercial and broadcast themes for ESPN, ABC Sports and NFL Films.^[1]
• Symphony pops arrangements for the Fort Worth Symphony and other American orchestras.^[2]
• Various big band charts published by Walrus Music and other publishers, including "Convergence Zone", "Cousin Bubba Luvz Ewe" and Bleulonious.^[16]

• Official website
• All About Jazz: Phil Kelly
• Origin Records artist page