"His muscular playing, eloquence and range of emotion, and versatility justify his popularity."
-Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen
About Kelly...
Multiple Juno award–winning saxophonist, composer and educator Kelly Jefferson has been a leading figure in the Canadian jazz community and beyond for over twenty-five years. He has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Maria Schneider, Christian McBride, Kenny Werner, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Al Jarreau, Michel LeGrand, Nicholas Payton, Brian Blade, as well as Ray Brown, Sonny Fortune, Randy Brecker, Renee Rosnes, Johnny Mathis, Russell Malone, Joey DeFrancesco, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, among others.
Kelly holds a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz performance from McGill University in Montreal and a Master of Music degree in jazz and commercial music from Manhattan School of Music in New York City.
Kelly has performed extensively in Canada, the United States, Japan, Thailand, Europe, South Korea and China, including a nine-month tour in 2000 with legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.
Kelly has released four recordings as a leader; Spark (2005), Next Exit (2010), which was nominated for a 2011 Juno Award, Rituals (2023) and Reunion (2025), a duo recording featuring pianist Jon Cowherd. Kelly also co-leads a band with trombonist Kelsley Grant which was formed in Montreal in the mid-1990s.
Mr. Jefferson is currently a faculty member at both the University of Toronto and York University and has adjudicated at music festivals and given numerous clinics and workshops throughout North America. Kelly is also an ongoing faculty member at the IMC Jazz Camp as well as the Stratford Summer Music Festival’s Jazz Academy.
An active freelance musician and guest artist, Kelly performs regularly with groups that include the Carn-Davidson 9, Laila Biali, Neil Swainson, Hilario Duran, Brian Dickinson, John MacLeod, Emilie-Claire Barlow and The Shuffle Demons.
Kelly is a Selmer Paris saxophone artist. He also proudly endorses mouthpieces from Sebastian Knox Woodwinds and Key Leaves saxophone products.
Quotes & Testimonials
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ABOUT KELLY JEFFERSON:
“I first met Kelly Jefferson at The Manhattan School of Music in New York City. MSM has always had a lot of impressive talent, especially the amount of saxophone players. When I first heard Kelly, I was immediately impressed with his individuality and depth of experience. He was an old soul outside, but also had an adventurous, young, creative spirit on the inside. His technical flow has an amazing stealth-like quality about it. Meaning, he plays incredibly difficult lines on the tenor and through the changes with grace, ease, and especially flow. Mr. Jefferson never had anything to prove other than being playful and unique while making his solo journey fun and always taking you with him as a listener and sideman. His approach has never sounded self-indulgent. He’s always in the moment of the music and was born to express it. Kelly never fears a path to take playing the tenor or writing a composition. Through his love of all styles, he brings integrity and enlightenment to the listener. He has a multitude of styles and experiences, and a quality to create music with talents earned and given.”
-Dick Oatts, New York saxophonist, Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
“...one of Canada’s top saxophonists...” -Winnipeg Free Press
“Jefferson has a big sound and a fertile imagination that produces tunes that have a quickly discernible structure and yet are interesting in their details.” -All About Jazz
“a top flight saxophonist.” -Geoff Chapman, The Whole Note Magazine
“...his muscular playing, eloquence and range of emotion, and versatility justify his popularity. -Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen
“...flawless, rich-toned and inventive throughout...” -Exclaim.ca
ABOUT THE KELLY JEFFERSON QUARTET:
“...fun to listen to and comes from the heart of spontaneity. Our creative future is in good hands.” -Dick Oatts, New York saxophonist, Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
“...a clear example of ensemble playing at its best.” -Winnipeg Free Press
“A simple kind of beauty shines through the music, allowing a very open romanticism to support the sophisticated and strongly structured tunes.” -All About Jazz
“The quartet’s latest studio offering has it all: Sonic diversity, awe-inducing virtuosity and vivid moments of genuine heart, as well.” -Fast Forward Weekly Calgary
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TESTIMONIALS:
Kelly is a world class musician and an even better teacher. He's always generous in sharing his knowledge and experience in topics such as jazz language, rhythm, improvisation, and composition, and he has a knack for presenting fundamental knowledge in a way that doesn't confine a student to a single approach to music. Most importantly, Kelly kindles a child-like excitement about music-making in even the most advanced students, always inspiring curiosity and growth no matter at what point in their musical journey they are. Studying with Kelly has been a very positive and fulfilling experience; I highly recommend him as a teacher.
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-Duncan Wilson, jazz pianist
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During my time at the University of Toronto, I was fortunate to have Kelly Jefferson teach me privately, coach my small ensembles, and lecture my seminar classes. I initially gravitated towards him because I was awed by his towering mastery of the saxophone, and I soon found that he is truly a gentle giant of our music and our community. Kelly had a certain way of revealing truths to me. I cannot recall Kelly ever dictating to me what not to do or how not to play. Rather, we played together every lesson. I understood the meaning of playing with a beautiful sound when he moved so much air through his horn that my chair shook. And I understood how to play good, clear time when his phrases transformed the metronome into an entire rhythm section. At one point I complained to Kelly that I couldn’t grasp and therefore didn’t enjoy Miles Davis’ Live at the Plugged Nickel. Whereas any other teacher might have belittled and patronized me in that moment, Kelly's genuine encouragement to help me break through my musical assumptions sticks with me today; “listen for what’s there, instead of for what’s not there.” Indeed, Kelly’s mentorship is the kind that reflects your own light back at you so you can properly see who you are and who you want to become. I look back very fondly at my time with Kelly, recommend him highly as a teacher, and frankly, hope to take another lesson soon.
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-Jacob Chung, saxophonist and composer based in New York City
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I had the privilege of studying with Kelly Jefferson for one year, during my first year of college. I reconnected with him again years later, after completing my Bachelor of Music degree, when I pursued private lessons with him with the assistance of funding from both the Canada Council for the Arts and The Ontario Arts Council. I studied with him for an additional three years at that time.
Kelly really helped me to make sense of saxophone fundamentals (sound, intonation, articulation, phrasing) and encouraged me to be flexible in my approach to the instrument (both technically and mentally). We played a lot of tunes together, listened to recordings and analyzed. Kelly is an incredibly open-minded musician and taught me to experiment with and embrace new concepts and new sounds. Though we discussed a lot of technical information, he showed me that there really is no one way of doing anything; everyone is unique in their learning approach, and the most valuable lessons must ultimately be experienced to truly be synthesized.
As a young jazz improviser wanting to sound “good” all the time, I was afraid of making mistakes and taking chances. Kelly taught me to become comfortable with the feeling of being uncomfortable, with respect to creative expression; to embrace the unfamiliar and to not be afraid to lean into that feeling as a way to find my own voice.
Most importantly, through his compassionate, affable teaching style, Kelly reminded me that music is about sharing with others, even at an impeccably high level of artistry.
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-Allison Au, multiple JUNO award winning saxophonist, composer and educator based in Toronto