Grace Kelly On 'Piano Jazz: Rising Stars'

Enlarge Courtesy of the artist

Grace Kelly says that the first saxophonist she heard was Stan Getz: "I just fell in love with his sound, his tone. To me, he sounds like the human voice coming through the saxophone."

Courtesy of the artist

Grace Kelly says that the first saxophonist she heard was Stan Getz: "I just fell in love with his sound, his tone. To me, he sounds like the human voice coming through the saxophone."

Before she turned 20, alto-saxophone phenom Grace Kelly was already a seasoned road warrior with tour dates around the world, and had recorded with some of jazz's biggest icons.

"I'm always surrounding myself with musicians who are much better than me," Kelly says. "I feel like, because of that, I have grown a lot as a musician. Getting to have mentors like Lee Konitz, Phil Woods and Wynton Marsalis — they have all taught me so many lessons, and I find that when I'm next to them on stage, it's like osmosis or something. Musically, I just hear it change my sound."

Kelly also recently added vocals to her resume. She duets with host Jon Weber in "The Way You Look Tonight" and a pair of original tunes: the bouncy "Philosophical Flying Fish" and the sultry bossa nova vocal "Gone."