9/8/26 - Jazz Forward Dayton

Jazz music is thriving in Dayton, thanks in part to Kelly Campbell, a vocalist who leads a monthly jam session at the Holy Grounds Coffee House on Wayne Avenue.

I've been singing all my life, but singing jazz for about 20 years now.

And it started in New Jersey when a friend of mine, he hired me for a New Year's Eve gig, and he paid me $300.

And I said, you mean I can get paid singing this music? I was in Philadelphia then, Philadelphia, New Jersey area.

Moved back to Dayton, looking for musicians to play with.

We started gigging.

I met Kago and Eddie Brookshire, and we started a jam.

That was in 2018, and it's still going strong.