Cashbox : 09/12/1959

Kelly, Miles Davis‘ pianist and one of the top new pianists on the scene, leads his own recording group here on a bill comprised of six blues numbers. The front line features Nat Adderley, Bobby Jaspar and Benny Golson (heard on only two of the tracks) with Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb holding down the rest of the session. Tunes included Willow Weep for Me, Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise, and three Kelly originals. Set offers a good solo look at an important pianist.

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HiFi / Stereo Review
Ralph J. Gleason : November, 1959

Musical Interest: Fine jazz
Performance: Superior
Recording: Good

Actually, this is not just a piano LP. Two tracks feature a small group with horns and rhythm, led by pianist Wynton Kelly; the other four tracks feature Kelly with bass and drums. Not only is Kelly an excellent pianist with a great continuing capacity for swing on any type of number, but he seems to be a good catalyst for the formation of sympathetic groups of musicians. On the two sextet tracks, he backs the soloists with wit and perception; on the trio tracks, he really blossoms as a soloist himself.

At his best, Kelly is one of the most interesting of the modern pianists. Rooted deeply in the blues and making no overt attempt to probe new paths, he seems content to bring refreshing energy and a very bright musical mind to that which already exists, which proves, once again, that even the ordinary paths can seem inspired in the hands of a true artist.

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High Fidelity
John S. Wilson : November, 1959

Kelly plays piano both as part of a trio and with a sextet on this disc. Because he has a strongly rhythmic attack and an approach that ranges from a wide orchestral use of the keyboard to a Jamal-like suggestiveness, his trio selections have both variety and context in greater degrees than those of most of his contemporaries. He emerges equally well from the sextet surroundings, which include strong solos by Nat Adderley on cornet and Benny Golson on tenor saxophone.

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Kansas City Star
J.W.S. : 08/16/1959

Wynton Kelly is a pianist in the vigorous pattern. His grace notes seem to have muscles and his chords a sort of lean strength that are pure and refreshing in this era of complicated, cascading, atonal piano players.

In Kelly Blue he is joined by such as Nat Adderley, Benny Golson and Paul Chambers. A 10-minute effort, Kelly Blue is fine and earthy; Green Dolphin Street is lyrical and fresh. Among all the companies producing jazz, Riverside takes best advantage of the LP record to break away from the old 3 or 4 minute limit of the 78 r.p.m. days.

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Minneapolis Star Tribune
Charles Hanna : 09/13/1959

Miles Davis‘ pianist Wynton Kelly displays his fluent blues concepts in this excellent LP. Kelly, 28, is a subtle swinger, who dresses his style with pretty melodic inventions.

Paul Chambers, powerful Davis bassist, lends his extremely flexible technique to the album. Jimmy Cobb, a newcomer to the Davis ranks gives samples of his ability as one of jazzdom’s most promising young drummers.

Nat Adderley puts in Davis-like comments with his trumpet. Benny Golson, tenor, has two tasteful solos that mark him as a formidable instrumentalist as well as writer. Belgian flutist Bobby Jaspar purls liquid tones into the ensemble for a pleasing effect.

If Kelly couldn’t play well, and he can, this group would be good enough.

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New York Age
Chollie Herndon : 08/22/1959

Pianist Wynton Kelly is one of jazz’ most underrated talents. A gentleman whose percussive style, although he hasn’t the strong left hand, makes you think of a modernistic Earl Hines, Kelly is currently attracting attention as the Miles Davis Sextet pianist.

It was at Davis’ “strong suggestion” that one of the numbers appears in Kelly Blue, another Riverside. Played by a trio of Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers drummer Jimmy Cobb, all members of the Davis group, Green Dolphin Street is worth the whole admission price.

The track is the album standout, so a low bow in the direction of Miles Davis is in order. The track shows Kelly in an imaginative, swinging and fiery frame of mind. And there are some provocative things done by bassist Chambers as the underlines Kelly’s work.

On two other tracks of the six-track album, the Kelly trio becomes a sextet. Added are cornetist Nat Adderley, flutist Bobby Jaspar and tenor saxist Benny Golson. There’s some noteworthy blowing from all of them, particularly by Adderley, on the title tune of the album.

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Providence Journal
Philip C. Gunion : 08/30/1959

You can hear Nat all over again with another great wealth of talent on Riverside’s Kelly Blue, by Wynton Kelly and a sextet and a trio.

Kelly is one of the great underrated pianists of jazz, although more and more persons are becoming acquainted with him. And, as we used to say, to know him is to love him. Nat is very good in this session and he has the added incentive of playing with Benny Golson on tenor sax.

Others in the excellent group are Bobby Jaspar, flute: Paul Chambers, bass; and Jimmy Cobb, drums The trio is made up of Kelly, Chambers and Cobb.

They play a nicely rounded program which includes such offbeat things for this sort of jazz as Green Dolphin Street and Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise.

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San Bernardino County Sun
Jim Angelo : 09/19/1959

Among the outstanding purveyors of modern jazz is the Riverside label, a company which has recorded the rise to fame of such artists as Blue Mitchell, Evans Bradshaw, Sonny Rollins, Nat and “Cannonball” Adderley, and Philly Joe Jones. A current protege is pianist Wynton Kelly whose latest album title, Kelly Blue, is indicative of the set’s prevailing mood. Kelly shows his mettle not only as a brilliant soloist and as a sturdy anchorman for the rhythm section but also as a composer of considerable originality (Kelly Blue, Keep It Moving, and Old Clothes). Several other highlights of note on the program include Softly As In A Morning Sunrise and Willow Weep For Me. There’s plenty of cohesive support from front line compatriots, Nat Adderley (trumpet), Bobby Jaspar (flute), and Benny Golson (sax).

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 08/23/1959

Wynton Kelly is a delightful pianist at all times, a mad wit of the keyboard who swings superbly and is absolutely never dull. Here he has excellent assistance from Nat Adderley, Benny Golson, Paul Chambers and others and the result is a warm, swinging, funstyle LP that should be good listening after many more serious efforts have palled.

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San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 08/23/1959

Kelly Blue is in a sense a display piece for Wynton Kelly, who was Miles‘ pianist and who astonished those modern fans who had not kept up with things the last year. He proved himself while here (and again on this record) as one of the very top combo pianists; at the moment I can think of only Monk, Red Garland and Hank Jones to group with him. Also on the date are Benny Golson, Bobby Jaspar, Nat Adderley, Chambers and Cobb. For me, both Golson and Jaspar add much.

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St. Paul Recorder
Albert Anderson : 10/30/1959
Wynton Kelly Waxes Great

It has always been said of Wynton Kelly that he is an inventive and clever musician. Not only is he a real artist at the keyboard, but his playing has body and flavor. This is true whether he is playing background music or beating out a fast solo.

Wynton proves all this anew on his latest Riverside grooving, titled Kelly Blue. Backed by such able new stars as Nat Adderley (cornet), Benny Golson (tenor), Paul Chambers (bass), Bobby Jasper (flute) and Jimmy Cobb (drums), Kelly perhaps cut his best disc with this album.

The group play six numbers; all good. But on one in particular – Keep It Moving, Kelly’s piano work stands out. Here the entire sextet plays around Wynton, who not only set the tempo but provides the transition between solos to keep ’em moving. He also plays a mean solo on the number.

Kelly and the sextet are also good on the title number, but the other four offerings, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, Green Dolphin Street, Willow, Weep for Me, and Old Clothes are played by trios with the musicians alternating with Kelly.

For real entertainment in good, lively modern jazz, you must hear this disc. It’s solid.

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Down Beat : 10/01/1959
??? : 3.5 stars

Kelly is one of the very best young pianists to “arrive” on record in recent years. He is quite mature in matters of taste, wit, and multilateral group improvisation. Though he adheres to the current tendency to reduce every tune to a lyrical gospel-blues. Kelly lends authoritative crispness to his lyricism that places him, for this reviewer, above all the limp wrist blues players and most of the “hard” pianists, who usually sound as though they’re setting “pick a peck o’ peppers” to music.

Paul Chambers and Cobb are nearly ideal rhythm partners for their assignment, that of showing Kelly in the best possible light. The three men work together with sensivity and mutual respect.

Adderley and Jaspar neither add to nor detract from the set, both having been heard to better advantage elsewhere. Golson is potentially the finest tenor saxophonist to emerge after Sonny Rollins, but his big sound and thorough command are marred by illogical runs and overstatement at those precise moments when restraint is called lor.

It’s the trio tracks that you are likely to wear out.

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Liner Notes by Orrin Keepnews

Kelly green is a familiar enough color, a rich and vibrant shade. Kelly Blue, on the other hand, is newly invented for this occasion. It’s a term created to identify not only the title tune of this LP, but the album’s prevailing mood as well: a mood that is also rich and vibrant – and full of the particular shade of blue that goes with the jazz talents of Wynton Kelly.

This album has been designed to display to the fullest Wynton’s notable blues feeling. Actually, only the opening and closing selections on the LP, both written by Kelly for this recording, are “blues” in the strict sense of the word. But the other four members lend themselves fully to the same sort of soulful, blues-y treatment, adding up to an album strongly steeped in the earthy mood and spirit that we feel is best described as Kelly Blue.

Fellow musicians have recognized for quite some time that Wynton is one of the very finest pianists around, although the jazz public (as is the case unfortunately frequently) has been rather slow to learn this fact and is only recently beginning to appreciate his considerable abilities. Although still quite a young man (he was born in December of 1931), Kelly has been playing with the best since he was in his ‘teens. Most notably, he has given valuable service as an accompanist to Dinah Washington and in both large and small bands led by Dizzy Gillespie. Then, early in 1959, Miles Davis asked him to join his sextet, and it has been as a member of that notable group that Wynton has at last started to attract some long-deserved attention.

A great many of those who have worked with him will tell you without hesitation that there is no pianist today who can really be ranked ahead of Kelly as an asset to a jazz group. Both as a brilliant, fertile soloist and as a sturdy focal point of the rhythm section he is quite invaluable. This album presents Wynton in both these roles (in addition to indicating that he is a jazz composer of considerable wit and originality). On Kelly Blue, an extended and well-structured exploration of the blues, and on Keep It Moving, he has a sextet to work with, enabling him to demonstrate, among other things, just how much he can do for an ensemble and in support of horn soloists. The other four selections turn the spotlight more fully on Wynton’s richly melodic, flawlessly swinging solo style. Old Clothes is a blues; Willow Weep for Me and Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise are familiar standards that are given fresh, resoundingly blues-tinged development here. Green Dolphin Street, derived from the theme music of a Lana Turner movie of a few years back, was converted to jazz uses by Miles. He has been particularly impressed by Wynton’s handling of the number with the Davis group, and it was at Miles’ strong suggestion that it was included in this album.

Kelly’s five co-workers on the LP are among the best of the many fine young jazzmen who have come to the fore in the past few years. To begin with, the rest of the rhythm section consists of the two with whom Wynton has been teamed in Miles’ sextet: the formidable and outstandingly melodic bassist, Paul Chambers (who also has opportunity to demonstrate once again his unique abilities as a soloist); and Jimmy Cobb, a most tasteful and promising young drummer. Cornetist Nat Adderley is rapidly putting an end to the practice of describing him merely as Cannonball‘s younger brother; he is à constantly and rapidly growing musician with astonishing range, power and control, and a wealth of soulful ideas. Benny Golson, still most widely known as the writer of many of the most highly regarded jazz compositions of the past few years, has also (particularly through his work with Art Blakey‘s Jazz Messengers in 1958) developed into an outstandingly firm and fluent tenor man: his two solos here offer notable evidence of this. Bobby Jaspar, Belgian-born but now thoroughly assimilated into the American jazz vein, helps greatly in the creation of an unusual ensemble sound and also adds a couple of solo examples of probably the warmest flute sound in jazz today.

With such support, plus the support that his own fingers and imagination give him, plus a repertoire ideally suited to the blues concept on which the album is based, it seems likely that this could be the push needed to put Wynton Kelly out in front, where he belongs.