Saxophonist/composer Chris Kelsey's music is powerful and innovative, with an honest nod to the past and a determined lunge toward the future. Says critic Dave McElfresh: "Kelsey's jazz is shish kebab jazz; skewered back to back on each cut is the meat of Sidney Bechet, Charlie Barnet, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Steve Lacy. Not that Kelsey sounds like any of them--he's too much the trailblazer to settle for that easy route. Chris goes for the big picture; stacking styles, not stylists. Kelsey isn't a mere aficionado of the soprano sax, he's an outright jazz harlot whose compositions and chosen cohorts envelope the rhythms, moods and swing nuances of a hundred years of jazz changes." That pretty much says it.
