Grace Kelly
"I'm a very strong believer that jazz is about improvisation and about creating and spontaneity," Kelly once said in an interview. "That's what really drew me to it, but I think there's plenty of music that can fuse elements of jazz with its own type of sound whether it's rock or pop. I'm not into 'No, this isn't jazz.' I like everything that's good and I encourage people to think that way."
Kelly has continued to garner accolades from artists she revered, performing and recording with the likes of Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, Phil Woods, Boston Pops, Harry Connick Jr., James Cotton, Huey Lewis, J. Geils, James Montgomery, Jamie Cullum, Frank Morgan, Esperanza Spalding, Toots Thielemans, Hank Jones, and Terri Lynn Carrington among others. "I gave her my hat, that's how good she sounded," Phil Woods enthused. "She's the first alto player to get one."