Orange Kellin

Orange Kellin may be best known for being one of the creative originators of the mega hit stage musical One Mo' Time,  where he was musical director and clarinetist in the on-stage jazz band. Charles Isherwood in Variety enthused in the review of the 2002 Broadway production: "Fleet-fingered clarinet player Orange Kellin(s)... solos alone are practically worth the price of admission." But Mr. Kellin has had a long and illustrious career, and has been distinguished as a leading jazz clarinetist, since his arrival in New Orleans, in 1966 from his native Sweden, where he made the first of a series of recordings at age 17. Within a month of his arrival in New Orleans, he was offered a recording session with DeDe Pierce and joined the Black local of the Musicians Union. A long list of recordings over many years with the New Orleans jazz pioneers followed like, Kid Thomas Valentine, Percy Humphrey and Jim Robinson. He became a regular member of the Preservation Hall Band and was a co-founder of the much recorded and highly respected New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra.

Commencing in 1970, throughout the '70s, Mr. Kellin became instrumental in bringing out of obscurity important old time players including Jabbo Smith, Preston Jackson, Louis Barbarin and Father Al Lewis, as members of his band,  The New Orleans Joymakers, through tours in the United States and Europe and several recordings.

Mr. Kellin also played and toured frequently with other groups which had him cross paths with many jazz legends. For example, he has recorded and/or broadcast with Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Ray Bauduc, Georg Brunis, Max Kaminsky and Zutty Singelton among others. A highlight was accompanying Louis Armstrong at Satchmo's 70th Birthday Concert at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1970. 

The original cast album for One Mo' Time, for which Mr. Kellin was musical director and and played the clarinet, earned a Grammy Award nomination. He also plays on the Oscar nominated soundtrack and appeared in the Louis Malle film Pretty Baby.

The monumental success of One Mo' Time spawned seven touring companies around the world, a critically acclaimed 1990 sequel, Further Mo' and the touring group The New Orleans Blue Serenaders that Mr. Kellin organized featuring musicians and vocalists from the shows. They have toured extensively and recorded for GHB and Southern Skies Records.  The New Orleans Blue Serenaders went on to star the 2002 Broadway revival of One Mo' Time  and subsequently went on the road again, mostly in the US. 

In 2004, Mr. Kellin organized his latest venture, the Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra which plays weekly at Manhattan jazz restaurant, The Cajun, and is comprised of some of the most outstanding and well-known musicians in New York City that specialize in vintage jazz. Their new CD on Stomp Off Records, "Euphonic Sounds, Radical Pop Music From The Ragtime Era", has earned superlative critical notices.