Jackie Kelso

John Joseph Kelson Jr., better known by his stage name Jackie Kelso (b. February 27, 1922, Los Angeles) is an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist.

Kelson studied at Gray Conservatory in the 1930s, and made his professional debut with Jerome Myart when he was fifteen. In the 1940s he played with C.L. Burke, Barney Bigard, Marshal Royal, Lucky Thompson, Kid Ory, Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, and Roy Milton. In the 1950s he also performed with Johnny Otis, Billy Vaughan, Nelson Riddle, Bill Berry, the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut, Ray Anthony, Bob Crosby, and Duke Ellington. He worked as a studio musician between 1964 and 1984, in addition to recording with Mercer Ellington and Mink DeVille, touring worldwide with Hampton, Ellington, and Vaughan, and appearing at the Concert for Bangla Desh. He quit music in 1984 to become a tourist, but returned to performance in 1995 with the Count Basie Orchestra, where he became a regular in 1998. He reverted to his birth name of Kelson that year as well.

References

*Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz". Oxford, 1999, p. 380.