Kelly Green - Corner of My Dreams

[GA Russell]

Pianist-Singer Kelly Green Honors Her Late Mother On "Corner of My Dreams," Set for August 22 Release by La Reserve Records Self-Composed, -Arranged, & -Produced Recording Features Eight Original Compositions in an Ambitious Setting for Piano Trio, String Quartet, & Vocal Quartet   CD/Vinyl Release Show at the Zinc Bar, NYC, 9/16; Summer/Fall Dates Also Includes Stops in California, Denver, London, & Brussels   June 23, 2025 By taking a wistful look backward, Kelly Green takes a tremendous artistic stride forward with her August 22 release of Corner of My Dreams (La Reserve Records/Green Soul Studios). Inspired by and in tribute to her late mother, Green’s fifth album also finds her at the head of an ambitious assemblage. Her working trio with bassist Luca Soul Rosenfeld and drummer Evan Hyde is augmented by an accomplished, all-female string quartet under the leadership of violinist Ludovica Burtone; percussionist Andromeda Turre; and a distinctive grouping of vocalists that includes Emily Braden, Tahira Clayton, Jimmy Kraft, and Michael Mayo.   Compounding her achievement, Green herself handled all of the compositions, arrangements, and production on Corner of My Dreams. “Inspired by the Disney classic film scores from my childhood, I wanted to have many different perspectives represented, to have a very full, lush sound,” she explains.   Green’s mother Kathie, who took her own life in 2021, was her best friend and biggest fan; her daughter’s music was a balm to her. It was Kathie who asked Green to make a new recording of her original compositions. Although two (the opening pair “Let Me In” and “Corner of My Dreams”) were written before her passing, both take on new meaning and emotional weight in the context of her loss—especially the title track, since Green’s mother still appears in her dreams. The other tunes were either directly inspired or informed by Green’s grief. The gospel-like waltz ballad “Nothing at All” came to her whole cloth on a day when she was keenly feeling her mother’s absence from her daily life; its exquisite string quartet “Intro” struck her in the midst of a sleepless night not long after. “At Eternity’s Sunrise,” the fond, bittersweet elegy that closes the album, came to Green just days after Kathie’s death; she sang it a week later at the memorial service.  Much of the album’s heft is conveyed through Green’s marvelous voice and its remarkable combination of huskiness and light (with the vocal quartet adding resonance and depth); however, her prowess as a writer and arranger of instrumental music takes center stage on the aforementioned “Nothing at All (Intro)” and on “Tea with Kathie,” a dreamlike piece for strings that presents a panorama of feelings from crushing sadness to joyful hope. Another emotional spectrum emanates from the piano-trio setting “When It’s Time to Go,” which doubles as a deft showcase for Green’s tight chemistry and communication with Rosenfeld (her husband) and Hyde.   These sweeping emotional statements cut very much to the heart of Corner of My Dreams; though it’s not a concept album, Green recognizes the personal dimension that the recording takes on and means it to encompass a full palette of emotions, with contributions thereto from each of her collaborators. In doing so, the pianist, vocalist, and composer has brought her own music to an astonishing new level of richness and possibility.   “Like all highly realized artists, Kelly embraces vision, inspiration, and affinity in her work,” writes Michelle Mercer in her liner notes. The CD package also features an insert with full lyrics and a beautiful personal note by Green. Born in Orlando, Florida in 1989, Kelly Green has memories of singing and making music from the time she was a very little girl. At the age of seven, she started taking piano lessons and singing in choirs, and also wrote her first song. At 11, she discovered jazz through her father, a bassist and audio engineer, and began attending the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshop with him every year.   Green sang in her high school chorus and at 18 recorded Aspire, an album of her original compositions. She went on to study jazz at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, earning a bachelor’s degree in piano performance—and while she was at it, winning first prize in the Generation Next Youth Talent Competition at the 2011 Jacksonville Jazz Festival.   In 2012 she moved to the New York City area, beginning graduate studies at William Paterson University (where she would earn her master’s degree) and working under the tutelage of Mulgrew Miller, Gary Kirkpatrick, and Cecil Bridgewater while also taking private lessons with James Weidman and Harold Mabern.   In 2017, Green recorded Life Rearranged, an accomplished album with the fearsome veterans Christian McBride and Steve Nelson, among others; the following year she released Kelly Green Trio Volume One. Green and her trio welcomed the uniquely talented quartet member Elijah J. Thomas on 2024’s Seems, with 2025 bringing her largest project to date, Corner of My Dreams.   Green and Rosenfeld are the founders of Green Soul Studios, a recording and performance space in Queens, where they host a concert series and record their own music.   The Kelly Green Quartet featuring Elijah J. Thomas received the Spring 2025 South Arts/Jazz Road Grant for their California tour in July (dates below).   Kelly Green appears with her trio every Friday at the Flatiron Room NoMad, 37 W. 26th St, NYC, 9pm-12am. In support of Corner of My Dreams, Green and trio will be appearing at the following venues: 6/29 Close Up, NYC (154 Orchard St); 7/1 Mezzrow, NYC; 7/10 Sam First, Los Angeles; 7/11 The Grape, Ventura, CA; 7/12 The Sound Room, Oakland; 7/13 Mr. Tipple’s, San Francisco; 8/10 Birdland, NYC (5:30), featuring Scott Robinson; 9/6 Black Squirrel Club, Philadelphia; 9/16 Official album release with full ensemble: Zinc Bar, NYC (7-10pm); 10/4 Bar Bayeux, Brooklyn; 10/10 Muse, Denver; 11/20 Crazy Coqs, London; 11/21 The Music Village, Brussels; 11/23 Atelier 57, Beroun, Czechia; 11/26 Blue Note, Dresden, Germany; 11/29 Sunset Jazz Club, Girona, Spain; 2/27/26 Ravenscroft, Scottsdale, AZ; 2/28/26 Century Room, Tucson, AZ.          Photography: Margherita Andreani  

Kelly Green Website