The Good Thing
Kim Jade Fry The Good Thing
Kim Jade Fry appearing at the 2024 Key West Music Awards
Kim Jade Fry’s father was a bebop jazz bass player in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and her mother was a singer, originally from Minnesota. Kim was born in Miami. After four years in warm weather, her mother forced the family to move to a cooler climate – they relocated to Callicoon, a small village in the Catskill Mountains in Sullivan County, New York. Callicoon was the closest village to her father’s steady gigs at Kutsher’s Country Club. It was a thriving tourist area known as the “Borscht Belt” and famous for hosting big name music artists from Louis Armstrong to Dean Martin, Joan Rivers, and the occasional boxing champ like Muhammed Ali.
They lived a bohemian jazz musician existence. Musicians visited from New York. Their close neighbors were also jazz musicians like tenor saxophonist Gary Campbell (aka Uncle Gary) who would reappear in her later life. Her parents recorded, but never released, an album of original jazz songs that was really good. Kim still has the music to enjoy.
Kim at a laid back gig at Ocean Side.
Kim attended the same school from kindergarten through high school, in the same building with 24 students. Kim sang in the choir starting in the fourth grade. Her older sister started playing guitar at home when she was 15. Kim loved playing bass and her father encouraged her.
She started working at age 14, saved her money, and bought a car. The plan was to move out of the countryside and become a rock star – college was even a thought. After graduating from high school in 1986, she immediately moved near her grandparents in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She auditioned for a band and was hired. Their first gig was for two weeks at Durty Harry’s in Key West, FL.
Kim performing at the 2022 Bill Blue Fundraiser at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater.
At their next gig in Pompano Beach she met James Lugo. They had an immediate connection formed their own band performed in the area for about a year then moved to Los Angeles area. For about two years, she performed at night and had a day job at a music store located at Hollywood and Vine. The band and relationship broke up, and Kim was questioning whether or not to continue in music. She returned to south Florida and contacted Gary Campbell who by then had moved to Miami and was the head of the Jazz Department at Florida International University in Kendall.
Campbell advised her to go to Miami Dade Community College (MDCC) Kendall Campus which had a great music program. She had to start from scratch, learning music again. The instructors were great and most worked at MDCC and University of Miami. Returning to school after ten years, it took a while to get back into the “learning” skills. Four years later, she gained a scholarship to the University of Miami School of Jazz.
Kim’s music highlighted by a lightning strike!
Matt Bonelli, Kim’s bass teacher at MDCC was a heavy influence and referred her to Islamorada musician David Feder. Through the late 90s, Kim commuted on the weekends to perform with Feder’s bands. She was able to quickly apply what she was learning in school with Dave’s groups. It was very helpful.
In the late 90s, she became a band leader and formed a blues trio, Kim Jade and the Coalition, playing a lot of Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Albert King, and Coco Taylor.
While at the University of Miami in 1998, Brazilian singer Elin Melgarejo was her roommate and they became best friends. Kim learned the Brazilian jazz music groove with a lot of swing music and they formed a band called Night and Day. She and Elin began gigging a lot and were very successful. They moved to New York – just in time for 9/11. Kim was in New York for five years, moving to Los Angeles again in 2006 and living in Venice Beach.
In 2008, Kim moved to Washington, D.C. to take care of her father who had an accident. She continued gigging and discovered serious funk rhythms. Kim Jade and the funk influence began, continuing for eight years. She put together a band, Kim Jade and The Good Thing. She wrote and recorded music.
In 2016, Kim was offered a Key West gig for 30 days. She enjoyed the scene so much that she decided to stay, developing as a solo guitarist. Rick Fusco got Kim her first steady gig at Pinchers. Randy Stindt moved to Key West about the same time and his funk drumming fit her groove perfectly. They have developed some steady gigs together over nearly eight years.
Kim Jade Fry has some very cool bass gigs with Rolando Rojas, playing the Latin groove at Sunset Pier. She continues playing with Randy Stindt, Daniel Clark, and Rick Fusco at Virgilio’s Martini Mondays. She performs solo gigs at Schooner Wharf Bar, Geiger Key, the Casa Marina and other Key West Venues. Kim is recording music again and hopes to release an album soon. She misses mountain biking and wishes they could convert Mount Trashmore into a mountain bike park. You can contact Kin through her Facebook and Instagram pages (@kimjademusic) Kim will soon have a website at KimJade.com to host her music.
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