the wings listening, he would turn around so the audience couldn't see, give us a stern look, and drop his upper plate forward onto his lower lip, creating a grotesquely comical effect. Sometimes he heightened it by sticking his tongue out at us over his upper teeth." Playing style Kelly played "with a crisp, leaping rhythmic blues approach that generated intense excitement", wrote The Washington Posts obituarist. The happiness conveyed in his playing was described by Cobb: "It's happy sounding all the time. It's got a West Indian kind of hop to it. Always sparkling". The Rough Guide to Jazz stated that Kelly "combined boppish lines and bluesy interpolations, but with a taut sense of timing quite unlike anyone else except his many imitators", and highlighted the effectiveness of his block chords in contributing to a "dynamic and driving accompanying style". Kelly was an excellent sight reader, and could memorize parts very quickly, as well as play pieces he had heard but not read before. Several commentators have rated Kelly the best accompanist in jazz, including critic Ray Comiskey and music educator Mark Levine. Drummer Philly Joe Jones said that, as an accompanist, Kelly "puts down flowers behind a soloist. He never wanted to steal in. He just put together the right things." Pianist Bruce Barth pointed out that part of Kelly's success as an accompanist came from "occasional and compelling use of 'blues licks' and melodic phrases in place of chords." Pianist Sergio Pamies suggested that Kelly represents the bridge between the supportive comping of Red Garland and the conversational comping of Bill Evans. Legacy and influence In critic Gary Giddins' view:Kelly was never able to exploit his gifts when he went out on his own. His quartet with Wes Montgomery should have developed into a major force, but the same commercial interests that shanghaied Montgomery saddled Kelly with the fashionable soul-funk of the mid-'60s. Unlike Montgomery, his career went nowhere, and he didn't live long enough to find himself again. Writer David Rosenthal commented: "Kelly seemed unable to escape being typecast as a sideman". Kelly's style of playing has been an influence on numerous pianists, beginning in the 1960s. Among those to cite him directly as an influence are Monty Alexander, Chick Corea, Brad Mehldau, and Chucho Valdés. Pamies suggested that Kelly's comping had a direct influence on Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner. Pianists Dan Nimmer and Willie