Kelly Eisenhour - Biography

Kelly Eisenhour is a prolific jazz vocalist, and the winner of the 6th annual Seattle-Kobe Female Vocal Jazz Competition in 2010. Her last album released in 2007, "Seek and Find" featuring Bob Mintzer, reached #14 on JazzWeek national radio airplay charts, #11 on College radio, and #3 on the respected national jazz radio show, "The Bob Parlocha Show." It received continuous airplay for 7 months after it's release. Kelly has performed in various jazz festivals and has toured as guest soloist with the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart. She is also a songwriter and arranger, and has done numerous projects in that capacity, including the 2006 Grammy award winning album, Gladys Knight: One Voice, in which she serves as songwriter, soloist, co-arranger, and assistant choir director. Kelly has two more jazz recordings, "Kelly Eisenhour, Now You Know," released in 2001, and "Kelly Eisenhour with the Jeff Hamilton Trio." She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music as a vocal performance major, and has an M.M. from the University of Utah in jazz studies, composition and performance. Her career has taken her many places, starting as a jazz singer in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona (sometimes working with another native Tucsonan -Brian Bromberg), and then diving into the various music scenes in Boston, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and currently in Seattle. Other career highlights: opened for Ramsey Lewis at the Park City Jazz Festival, performed live at the Apollo Theatre, and was an invited performer at the 2007 International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) conference. As an educator, Kelly is a sought after clinician, and was the vocal jazz instructor for the 2006 3-day Teacher's Training Institute for IAJE, as well as workshops for UMEA. She was the vocal jazz director at Brigham Young University as an adjunct instructor, and made the move to a full-time faculty position as the choral director at Green River Community College in Washington state where she now resides. Kelly loves the combination of teaching and performing and feels she has the best of both worlds. The great sax player Bob Mintzer says, "I truly enjoyed playing on her recording and I look forward to watching Kelly's rise to the recognition level she deserves."