Bert Kelly (June 2, 1882 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa – January 1968 in Long Beach, New York) was an American musician, who pioneered jazz as a banjoist, bandleader, educator, promoter, night club owner, and night club operator. After professional stints in Seattle and San Francisco, Kelly moved to Chicago in 1914 where he flourished a banjoist, bandleader, and promoter. In 1915 — before the U.S. prohibition — he founded and operated a Chicago speakeasy called "Bert Kelly's Stables," where patrons were introduced to early jazz Kelly's first professional engagement was in Seattle Washington, around 1896. He moved to San Francisco around 1899. San Francisco In 1914, Kelly was in Art Hickman's band playing tea dances in the Rose Room of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Kelly eventually formed his own band and moved it to Chicago in 1914. Chicago Kelly's band in Chicago included notable early New Orleans jazz musicians, including Alcide Nunez, Tom Brown, Gussie ...