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"[Jillette] owns some well-honed pipes and the emotive powers to use them effectively...Together, vocalist and musicians creatively transform historic material into an engaging modern mode. This is what playing the standards should be all about." - Walter Kolosky (reviewing Hot House/What is...?)
"Your singing is wonderful! Absolutely! Unique, lyrical, individual. Believe you're the best female vocalist I've heard in a long time. "
- Norm Weinstein, winner of Deems Taylor-ASCAP award for jazz journalism, currently covers jazz for The Christian Science Monitor

"What a pleasure it is to hear the talented jazz vocalist Kelsey Jillette...an intriguing voice...breathy, yet has a deepness at the same time...a cool emphatic manner that compels you to listen to every word. The Kelsey Jillette Group is the real deal. You need to give them a listen."
- Walter Kolosky (reviewing Turn out the Stars)

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With a musical landscape chock full of female singers, the thing that gets your interest is some special quality that can’t be measured in sharps and flats. Call it pizzazz, personality, or the content of one’s character. Whatever it is, this elusive quality is what makes one’s ears perk up and take notice. Kelsey Jillette has this quality.

It comes across in a breathy, natural voice- conversational, but full of intensity and with loud bouts of joy, humor, pathos, and the blues. It is found in the expressiveness with which she sings every word, every line of a song. While she can use her voice in a Dianne Reeves style scat-singing mode, her forte is smooth, emotionally nuanced expression of a song’s melody. This is perfectly in keeping with her live performance style which favors relating to the audience and the listener with the unpretentious naturalism of the really cool girl next door over the pompous grandiosity of the diva. This comes in part from the path Kelsey Jillette has taken to become a singer-musician....
-Mark Kirby, WWW.MUSICDISH.COM (Associate Writer)

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Cover story of The Greenwich Citizen from last month

http://www.greenwichcitizen.com/news/article/All-jazzed-up-Local-singer-excited-about-new-5056192.php
Here's a story the Greenwich Citizen, my local paper, did when I was recording with The Americas Project in early December. It came out on the 13th but I keep forgetting to post it! This is the Americas Project Facebook page - I hope you'll take a look: (https://www.facebook.com/theamericasproject).

Kelsey's Blog

STYLE: Soulful Jazz, pop, folk, Latin.
Jillette sings lyrical, soulful takes on favorite songs across genres. Described as expressive, earthy, playful yet stirring, her distinctive sound illuminates Jazz standards, Latin tunes, folk songs and classic R&B so that each song is uniquely her own. Jillette co-leads the acoustic quartet The Americas Project and fronts both the 1950's jazz quartet The Lovesome and The Big Bang Big Band, a classic 10-piece band.

The Americas Project, North and South American folk music that's groovesome and melodious. Melding cajon and assorted percussion, upright bass, nylon-string guitar and vocals, Jillette's Latin-based combo The Americas Project plays music from two continents in three languages: Spanish, Portuguese and English. See us monthly at the famed 55 Bar in Greenwich Village!

The Lovesome, Soulful Jazz, Vintage R&B from New York City. A classy 1950's Jazz and Bossanova trio or quartet. Kelsey's straight ahead jazz combo The Lovesome brings cool jazz from NYC - upscale, compact, always tasteful. Their substantial jazz standards repertoire includes time-tested favorites and lesser-known gems. We sometimes scale down to duo and other times add horns to make a sextet.

The Kelsey Jillette Group, jazz-infused folk-pop and funk band featuring organ and guitar. This organ group brings a loungy, funky vibe and plays a mix of standards and groovy, soulful 70's and 80's pop.

The Big Bang Big Band, a 10-piece classic big band whose swing lights up the dance floor. We play big band swing - think Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie- with sensitive dynamics that can fit just about any room. We also go by the name The Tom Abbott Orchestra.

Astoria, Morristown, Broadway -- here are some things to put on the radar

Hi everybody and happy cool, cool Spring. Thank you for coming out to the 55 Bar in May, I loved playing the 55 Bar with Jason Ennis joining The Americas Project on guitar- what a happy night that was :) Dates there are in the works, but in the meantime, this Saturday I'm playing a brunch in Astoria with wonderful bassist Daniel Foose. Then I'll start an 8 week run at the Millennium Hotel on Broadway next Thursday the 23rd. It's billed as The Lovesome Duo, and I'll be bringing in some of my favorite guitarists to play the songbook. Really looking forward to that getting underway. And Friday the 24th I'll be in Morristown, NJ playing a special concert with guitarist Tom Dempsey. Details are on the schedule. I hope to see you! Best, Kelsey

Univision, L'Escale shows, and carpet shampooing

Hi all, hope it was a good weekend. I got to hear the Fairfield County Chorale perform Copeland, Ives and other American works on Saturday, and saw the St. Catherine Players' closing show of Peter Pan with my daughter, whose belief in fairies is strong as ever. Came away from both thinking about all the hours and energy people put into those shows- what a good thing to do with our time on the planet. It's so interesting and challenging to balance music with all the other parts of life. I had time to think about it whilst chasing my daughter around with the rented carpet shampooer on Sunday. Nice. Meanwhile, over on the music front... tomorrow I"ll be playing for Univision with Daniel Foose on bass and Jason Ennis on guitar. And April 1st I'll be at L'escale for a first show there. Really looking forward to both, and hope to see some CT folks out for L'escale. Stay warm and dry, everybody! -K

Lissy Newman, guitar in bed, upcoming shenanigans...

Hi all,
Went to hear jazz singer Lissy Newman (Melissa Newman, Paul Newman's daughter) at Blue Lemon in Westport with my mom. It was a mom date! I've met Lissy but it was my first time hearing her. She's wonderful! Highly recommend ... and she's back at Blue Lemon on April 1st. --- Also, in the general realm of music and life, I've been inspired to learn guitar (again), and thanks to youtube and the interwebs full of three-note voicings, I'm having fun chipping away at that in pjs. Been listening to the Indigo Girls, Ann Peebles, Chuck Brown, Joan Armatrading, Balla et ses Balladins. Looking forward to next week's show at the NYT Center, the next hit at 55 Bar, a Spring show at North Square. More as events warrant. I've never been much of a blogger but change is in the air... Happy Spring weather everybody!

Great time playing with Sheryl Bailey and David Silliman today

Thanks for coming out to North Square today for the show! Nice venue, great people to play with, good food... Shout out to Roz Corral, who holds down that Sunday series in such a lovely way.

Use code word: "Both Sides Now" and get a free CD at the show tonight!

We'd loooove to see you there! We're playing just one hour, from 7:45-8:45, and it will be jam-packed with new arrangements and old favorites. Use the code word and you'll get a new free cd sampler of the album we're working on. $10 at the door. Come by!