Kelsey Jones

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Herbert Kelsey Jones, D.Mus., (June 17, 1922 – October 10, 2004) was a Canadian composer, pianist, organist, harpsichordist, teacher, and founder of the Saint John Symphony Orchestra. He was born in South Norwalk, Norwalk, Connecticut, but grew up in Portland, Maine and then New Brunswick.

Some of Jones's compositions include: "Miramichi Ballad", "Sam Slick", "Four Pieces for Recorder Quartet", and "Nonsense Songs".

[note that this posting is used with the permission of R. Braley (http://pages.infinit.net/ronfaith/kelsey.html)]
KELSEY JONES was born June 12, 1922 in South Norwalk, Conn. but grew up mainly in Portland, Me. His early memories of music appreciation began in the early 1930s when he was taken to the Sunday afternoon concerts of the Portland Symphony orchestra (a Works Progress Administration project). It was at this time that he began studying tuba and piano, enjoying excellent instruction. His father formed a family ensemble with one sister on violin, another on cello, Kelsey on piano and himself on flute. Kelsey's first-known public performance was as his sister’s accompanist at her high school graduation in 1936.

In 1938 his sister began studies for her B.A. at Mount Allison University with music courses at their Conservatory of Music. Kelsey was doing poorly at high school, although he was in demand as a jazz pianist in various clubs. An interview was arranged with Prof. Harold Hamer at Mount Allison in New Brunswick, Canada, where he would complete his high school diploma at the Mount Allison Academy for Boys as well as enroll in the university for the B.Mus. degree.

From 1939-42 he continued his studies while earning money at college as a founding member of a student jazz band and a dining room waiter. He continued playing clubs around Portland. In his Mount Allison years his girlfriend was Rosabelle Smith, of Truro, N.S. a talented pianist who also was studying at the Conservatory; they married in 1942.

While still an American citizen, he was “invited” by the U.S. Government to return to the States and work in a war industry from 1942-45. As a lens grinder at the Optical Research Laboratory at Harvard University, Kelsey made precision lenses for the Army Air Corps. He remained proud of this work throughout his life. James G. Baker, the directory of the laboratory, wrote that by 1945 “probably not more than a hundred opticians have made 12-inch precision lenses,” and Kelsey had accomplished this before returning to reenroll at Mount Allison in the fall of 1945. He graduated with the class of ‘46.

In 1947 he obtained another B.Mus. at the University of Toronto under Sir Ernest MacMillan. In 47-48 the Joneses were in Sackville, N.B. where Kelsey was on the faculty at the Music Conservatory. In 1948 he completed studies for his Doctorate of Music under Prof. Leo Smith and Dr. Healey Willan at the University of Toronto. In the fall of 1949 he and Rosie went to Paris where he studied under Nadia Boulanger.

In 1950 Jones was founding conductor of Saint John Symphony Orchestra and put together about 45 musicians from the Saint John area, assisted by his wife. It was at this time that they began performing together as duo pianists, which took them to concert stages from one end of Canada to the other. The symphony, the first in the Maritime Provinces, was a huge success. In 1954 it was time to move on and the Joneses went to Montreal to continue their careers. Mario Duschènes, a Montreal flutist and occasional visiting soloist to the Saint John Symphony, encouraged Kelsey to move to Montreal and buy a harpsichord. Mario promised that opportunities would abound for someone with Kelsey’s many talents, and he was right.

Kelsey Jones (harpsichord) was a founder of the “Montreal Baroque Trio” along with Melvin Berman (oboe), and Mario Duschènes (flute and recorder). Together they recorded many LPs and performed live all across Canada and on the CBC. His career widened when he joined the Faculty of Music of McGill University, eventually becoming a professor. His specialty was counterpoint (Modal, Tonal and Fugue), for which he developed a unique pedagogical approach and became one of the faculty’s most respected and admired professors. Retiring in 1984 as a Full Professor, two years later he was granted the rank of Emeritus Professor in recognition of his accomplishments as a composer, performer and outstanding teacher.

By about 1960 he and Rosie found a summer refuge in southern Quebec and began to establish a new home, moving to Cook's Lines in Hinchinbrook, south of Huntingdon. Their three acres contained a deserted farmhouse which they refurbished, and straddled the U.S.-Canada border. In following years they were welcomed by the local farming community and friends of the Joneses followed them to this "Shangri La," establishing a sort of community. Included were the families of a Carleton University professor and distinguished poet (George Johnston), a Montreal advertising executive (Don McCrimmon), a Toronto educator and educational TV Producer (Ranald Ide formerly of Saint John) and a retired Canadian Army officer (Tom Sailman). To the wonder of the surrounding agriculturists, the group spent summer after summer helping in the hay fields in return for generous assistance in establishing their new homes.

By this time Kelsey was well established as a performer, teacher and composer, whose works were often heard on the CBC. His compositions included many for the piano, voice, chamber ensembles, and orchestra, in addition to an opera, an oratorio, and a work for jazz band.

The Joneses moved to Cook's Lines permanently in 1971 as he continued teaching at McGill, the couple spending part of most years touring Europe.

In 1974 Rosie suffered a car accident that made her a paraplegic, but although confined to a wheelchair, she and Kelsey designed and purchased a recreational vehicle that took them all around the continent for many years, finally setting up a winter home in Florida after Kelsey retired in 1984 to devote his time to taking care of his wife. In 1992 Rosie fell from her chair, further injuring herself and having to remain in the Huntingdon Chronic Care Hospital until her death in December 1995.

Kelsey continued to live at Cook’s Lines during the summers and spent winters in Florida until 2002 when he moved into a retirement home in Montreal. Though he had stopped performing in the 1970s and had given up composing in 1982, he did compose one final work for two pianos in February 2000. The work, entitled “Six Love Pieces”, was a reworking of a 1953 composition that he had never published. He “discovered the manuscript of these pieces in 1999, edited and retitled them. They have now become a retrospective of 55 glorious years with my dear Rosie.” (Kelsey Jones Feb. 2000) The manuscript is in the possession of R. Braley (r.braley@videotron.ca).

Kelsey’s papers and manuscripts are held at the Marvin Duchow Library at McGill University in Montreal, The New Brunswick Archives in Fredericton, and with Rick Braley (R.Braley@videotron.ca).

List of Works:

SYMPHONIC

Jack and the Beanstalk 12:00 1954 Narrator (R. Jones), SATB & orchestra (also an arrangement for pf 4-hands and rhythm band)
Miramichi Ballad 13:30 1954 Full orchestra R.C.I. ACM 24
Fantasy on a Theme 1976 Full orchestra

VOCAL
Nursery Suite (contains: "Old King Cole", "Solomon Grundy" & "The Brave Old Duke of York".) 6:00 1954 Child's voice, chorus, pf 4 hands, rhythm band
Nonsense Songs (Five Limericks & The Table and the Chair (E. Lear)) 3:05 1955 SATB R.C.I AMC 24
Songs of Time (R. Herrick, T. Jordan, F. Quarles, J. Webster) 13:35 1955 SATB, pf 4- hands R.C.I AMC 24
To Musicke (R. Herrick) 16:15 1957 Song Cycle for Contralto &Piano R.C.I AMC 24
Songs of Experience (W. Blake) 6:50 1958 SATB R.C.I AMC 24
Songs of Innocence (W. Blake) 15:50 1961 Soprano & chamber orchestra
Psalm Forty-Nine 1962 Baritone & piano C.B.C. I.S.
Prophecy of Micah (Adap. R. Jones) 23:05 1963 SATB R.C.I AMC 24
Kishamaquac Suite (N. B. folk songs adap. R. Jones) 11:00 1971 SATB
Hymn to Bacchus (R. Herrick, adap. R. Jones 20:23 1972 SATB & pf 4-hands
Songs of Winter (early Cdn. poets, adap. R. Jones) 1971 Soprano, Contralto & Piano
Da Musica, Con Amore (R. Jones) 8:42 1977 Mixed choir & brass quintet

CHAMBER MUSIC
Suite for Flute and Strings 19:35 1954 Solo flute and String Orchestra R.C.I AMC 24
Four Pieces for Recorders 7:00 1955 Baroque Records
Mosaic 1956 Flute, viola & harp
Sonata da Camera 10:35 1957 Flute, oboe & harpsichord R.C.I AMC 24
Prelude, Fughetta and Finale 12:17 1963 Violin, cello & Harpsichord
Quintet for Winds 13:05 1967 R.C.I AMC 24
Sonata da Chiesa 11:20 1967 Flute, oboe & harpsichord C.B.C. R.C.A.
Adagio, Presto and Fugue 23:00 1973 String orchestra
Passacaglia and Fugue for Brass Quintet 8:50 1975 McGill Records & R.C.I AMC 24
Musica d'Occasione 1978 Brass Quintet
Three Preludes and a Fugue 16:50 1982 Sax Quintet R.C.I AMC 24

STAGE
Sam Slick (R. Jones) 1967 Chamber opera for 8 soloists & orchestra

OTHER
Introduction and Fugue - 9:25 1959. Violin & piano. R.C.I AMC 24
Scherzo - 3:43 1961. Violin & piano.
Theme and Variations - 17:30 1961. Piano 4-hands.
Passacaglia - 10' 1961. Piano. R.C.I AMC 24
Rondo for Solo Flute - 25:15 1964. R.C.I AMC 24
Five Pieces for Piano 1964.
Jazzum Opus Unum 15:05 1977. Jazz band. McGill Records
Six Love Pieces – Two Pianos – 2000, based on a 1953 composition of his own