Charles has worked with Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Sister Sledge, The Pointer Sisters, Ralph Johnson and Sheldon Reynolds (Earth, Wind & Fire), Nathan East, Ricky Lawson, Nile Rogers…and others.
NEW ALBUM “PHASE II” OUT NOW!
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“Phase II” is the brilliant sophomore album from jazz keyboardist Charles A. Kelly. Building upon his successful debut album, “You’re Not Alone”, “Phase II” goes deeper into his creative side while still delivering catchy, signature melodies and grooves. Tracks like “Raindrops Under Glass”, “Feathers in Flight” and “Amanirenus” are creative standouts while ”SunSeeker”, “City Night” are chart toppers. Inspiration for this album is rooted in stretching the boundaries are Smooth Jazz while staying faithful to the genre. It is a must listen musical work!
There is no surprise the new album release “Phase II” by Charles A Kelly was written to delve deeper into more creative compositions. Kelly has a personal ambition to blur the lines of genres to reach more people. There are many sides to each artist, and for Charles A Kelly this is very true. Kelly says, “I believe there are only two types of music, good and bad. As a writer I want to reach as many people as possible for the purpose of engaging in ‘real listener connection’. I believe the only way to do this is to create songs openly and honestly, without restrictions. Listeners love authenticity and I want to be right there with them!”
While including more ambitious music, Charles A Kelly still maintained to be true to the Smooth Jazz genre with chart topping songs such as “SunSeeker”, “City Night”. The album “Phase II” proves there is room to be creative while delivering Smooth Jazz Classics. The future is bright for Kelly! I see this trend continuing as he continues to create music in the future!
To record the album, Charles A Kelly reached out to industry standouts such as Tony Moore (drums), Jermone Randall (bass), Michael Stever (trumpet), Andrew Neu (Saxes), Nick Lane (trombone), Munyungo Jackson (percussion), and Land Richards (Drums).
Kelly had the honor of working with legendary musicians originally from Philadelphia (his hometown also), such as Billy “Shoes” Johnson (drums) formally with Frankie Beverly and Maze, and Santana. The great Bill “Meech” Chase (guitar) also played on two tracks. Kelly also continued to work with his son, the very talented Jason E Kelly (soprano sax), while including great guitar work from James Greene and Miles Jenson.
The song “I Only Want You” features vocals from newcomer Quiahna and spoken word/rap from Robert Washington.
Debut full-length solo album includes the hit radio singles
"Endangered Species”, “I Know You”, “I’m Good” and the title track.
Click the covers to preview, stream and download on your preferred music platform…
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Charles is a gold record (RIAA, BMI) recording artist, musician/keyboardist, record producer, film composer, music director, and songwriter. Charles Kelly’s musical talent developed early as he began taking piano lessons at the age of 7 and trombone at 8. Later, he became a member of the All Philadelphia Boys Choir and various top local bands (such as Sundown which produced Kevin and Robin Eubanks) in the Philadelphia area. Charles also toured with the vocal groups Blue Magic and The Platters.
In the 1980’s, he had the opportunity to work with Stevie Wonder in Sigma Sound Studios. Upon moving to Los Angeles CA., He signed with Wondirection Records owned by Stevie Wonder. During the 1980’ he’s received gold records while working with many other artists such as Neil Diamond, Elton John, Sister Sledge, WHAM!, Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones, The Pointer Sisters, Holly Robinson, Ralph Johnson, and Sheldon Reynolds (Earth, Wind and Fire), George Howard, Eddie Murphy, Ndugu Chancler, Nathan East, Ricky Larson, Debbie Allen, Nile Rogers, Lisa Fischer, Nate Watts, The Sembello Brothers, and many others. He also was an actor on the TV series “Fame”. Since 2005 Charles has produced multiple Christian and Gospel projects while performing on the bill with Christian artists such artists as CeCe Winans, Selah, The Katinas, Salvador, Jeremy Camp, MaryMary, and Israel Houghton.
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