Jazz Musicians Serie 1

Phil Kelly








In addition to more than 40 years as a composer / arranger for film, TV, and other media applications, he has written for bands like Bill Watrous' NY Wildlife Refuge, the Old Tonight show band , Doc Severinsen, Si Zentner, as well as functioning as arranger/ conductor / drummer for vocalists Buddy Greco, Julius LaRosa, Frank D'Rone, Sylvia Syms, John Gary, Jenny Smith, and Al 'TNT' Braggs among others..

Early on in his career, he also logged several years as a jazz drummer with artists such as Terry Gibbs ,Red Garland, and Denny Zeitlin as well as years of work as a studio and recording drummer. In addition to his film and TV writing, He has written music for over 500 national commercials , ESPN, ABC Sports , NFL Films, and industrial films and shows for Cadillac, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, American Airlines and Zales Jewelers.

He also was the primary arranger for the Fort Worth (TX) Symphony Pops series for more than 25 years,and has been commissioned to provide custom pop symphonic scores for Doc Severinsen and Peter Nero. He has had arrangements played by the Houston , Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati, and North Carolina Symphony orchestras.

Now semi-retired and residing in Bellingham WA, He still writes jazz and pop orchestra arrangements for publication and on commision, and is beginning an auxiliary career in the educational field as a clinician in film scoring and music for the media at various colleges around the USA , as well as a big band coach at the Bud Shank Centrum Jazz camp in Port Townsend WA. for the past two years.

His first big band jazz album under his own name, "Convergence Zone" has been recorded this summer for fall release on Origin Records.