Chris Kelly (jazz)

Chris Kelly ( * 1890 in Deer Range Plantation, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, † August 19 1929 in New Orleans) was an influential American trumpeter and bandleader of the New Orleans jazz. Just like Buddy Bolden and Buddy Petit, he is considered one of the legendary pioneers of jazz trumpet.

Kelly came in 1915 to New Orleans, where he played in the band of clarinetist Johnny Brown, which he eventually took over. In the 1920s he played in the Perseverance Hall with George Lewis. He was considered one of the leading cornet in New Orleans in the 1920s, known for his interpretation of Careless Love, which influenced Louis Armstrong. He was an alcoholic and died young of a heart attack in a hospital in Algiers district of New Orleans.

From it there are no recordings, which was mainly because he has not left New Orleans as other contemporary jazz musicians in the direction of the large cities of the North of the United States.