Kelle Jolly (vocals): Kelle Jolly is an accomplished music entertainer and educator based out of Asheville, NC. She shares musical stories and songs from the South, with repertoire that includes traditional African American music of blues, jazz, spirituals, and folk. Kelle is a graduate of South Carolina State University, where she studied Music Education with Concentrations in Voice. Kelle is the 2011 Mountain Soul Vocal competition winner and the Knoxville Community Shares 2013 Artist of the Year. She is also the host of Jazz Jam, Knoxville’s only vocal jazz radio show, on WUOT 91.9FM, and the founder of the Women in Jazz Jam Festival and Ukesphere of Knoxville. Kelle and her saxophonist husband, Will Boyd, have served as ambassadors of jazz from Tennessee to Japan. They are Knoxville MLK Commission Artist Award recipients. In 2021, the City of Knoxville proclaimed July 21st, “Kelle Jolly and Will Boyd” Day in Knoxville, TN.
Reggie Headen (vocals): Reggie Headen is a native North Carolinian and graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. He sees the stage as a medium of many possibilities to connect and engage an audience. He started his professional career as a featured performer at New York’s famous Broadway concert venue Town Hall, playing to giants and peers in the industry. In fall 2018, Reggie moved to Asheville and since moving he’s had what he calls “A Return to Jazz”. He spends his work days as a classroom assistant/music teacher at The Learning Community and adjunct voice faculty at Warren Wilson College, both in Swannanoa, North Carolina. – “The vocal prowess, power and the raw emotion that comes from this diminutive human, is palpable. From tender nuanced notes to full growls, groans and moans, he commands our attention by the sheer and unabashed righteousness of his delivery.” (Peggy Ratusz, 50+ Living of Western NC Magazine)
Derrick Gardner (piano): Derrick is a music educator, pianist, trombonist and composer based out of Brevard, NC. He is the band director at Brevard Academy, and holds a Bachelors of Science in Music Education from Tennessee State University, and has performed with prominent musicians including Johnny Gill, Patti Russo, Shirley Murdock, Keith Robinson, Ellis Hooks, Jonell Mosser, Kaitlin Crosby, and 2003 American Idol winner Rueben Studdard. Derrick was also a performer in Italy for the Umbria Jazz Festival, and is one of the most in-demand pianists/keyboardists in the Western NC region.
Connor Law (bass): Connor Law has been working as a professional musician in and around Asheville, NC since 2018 and continues to work with many of the top jazz musicians in the area. Aside from his work as a freelance bassist, Connor Law is also a composer and bandleader. He also holds a B.S. in Music Technology from UNC-Asheville.
