Kelly Mittleman Brings Out the Crowd

Despite the forecast of heavy rain in early evening, the crowd came out to the town Green anyway for this year’s third ​“Jazz on the Green” concert.

They came to hear Kelly Mittleman, the popular singer who combines a mix of jazz, soul and R&B. An estimated crowd of 600 showed up with their picnic baskets and lounge chairs, even though the weatherman predicted rain.

“Thank you all for coming tonight,”Mittleman (pictured) told the crowd before the show began last Thursday. ​“But I have to tell you, it’s not going to rain until after we’re finished,” she said with certainty.

And she was right.

The program was kicked off by jazz committee member Charlotte Mattie (pictured) a little ahead of schedule at 6:25 p.m. She introduced Mittleman and her group who played straight through, not taking a break and finishing at 8:00 p.m.

There were many ​“regulars” in the audience. Ron Mortali is one of them. ​“I haven’t missed too many,” he said. 

When asked before the show how she began her career, Mittleman told the Eagle that in 2003 she decided to audition for what NBC’s ​“Today” show billed at its ​“Superstar Contest.”

Contestants were asked to submit tapes. She put together a VHS tape that she thought was a little different than what others might submit. The ​“Today” show was directed at the time by Branfordite Jim Bell who was then executive producer. Kelly met Jim and calls him a friend.

Mittleman heard the show’s co- host Katie Couric introduce her video on her show one morning. Out of 5,000 submissions to the contest, six performers were chosen and Mittleman was one of them. 

As a result of the contest Mittleman got to perform on network television for six weeks. Since then she has released two CD’s entitled “‘Kelly” and her most recent one, ​“A New Reason.”

The group performed songs from both albums Thursday night, including, ​“Feeling Like Making Love,” ​“This Masquerade,” ​“Cake” and ​“Two Cool.” This youngster gets into the groove

A couple of years ago Kelly was performing at Pasta Cosi when Branford’s Matt Berman was in the audience and heard her sing. Berman, who now lives in Las Vegas, is a movie director and thought her material would be perfect for his movie, ​“Hollywood and Wine.” He said he ​“was blown away by her,” offered her a musical role in the movie and again in another movie, ​“The Wedding Pact.” 

And the rest, as they say, is history.

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