Liberty Ellman
| Liberty Ellman | |
|---|---|
 Guitarist Liberty Ellman. Photo by Alan Nahigian | |
| Background information | |
| Born |
July 17, 1971 London, England |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Labels | Pi |
| Associated acts | Zooid |
| Website |
www |
Liberty Ellman (born July 17, 1971, in London, England) is a jazz guitarist born in London and raised in the United States, beginning in New York City. In the early 1980s, Ellman's family moved to California. Before leaving New York, Liberty attended City and Country School in Greenwich Village.
In the 1990s, Ellman was associated with the M-Base musical scene in San Francisco, California, where he played with Vijay Iyer, Miya Masaoka, Ledisi, Steve Coleman, Eric Crystal, EW Wainwright's African Roots of Jazz, Omar Sosa and D'Armous Boone Collective. He also worked with hip hop artists such as the Coup and Midnight Voices, performing opening spots for Pharcyde, Ice Cube, Devo, and The Stray Cats. During this time Ellman also composed for and performed with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. He released his debut album on his own Red Giant Records in 1997, and moved back to New York City the following year.
Ellman has performed and recorded with musicians, including Joe Lovano, Myra Melford, Wadada Leo Smith, Butch Morris, Steve Lehman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Somi, Matana Roberts, Michele Rosewoman, Josh Roseman, Barney McAll, Okkyung Lee, Ben Goldberg and Greg Osby. In 2014 Ellman worked with Jason Moran as part of Luanda Kinshasa, a video installation by filmmaker Stan Douglas. In April 2016 he was asked by John Zorn to perform a solo concert of a selection of Zorn's Bagatelles.
Ellman is a member of Henry Threadgill's ensemble, Zooid. Their most recent recording, In for a Penny, in for a Pound, earned a Pulitzer prize for Threadgill. Ellman is also credited as producer and mixing engineer on that album. He has mixed and mastered many other recording, including Gregory Porter's Be Good, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
The Wall Street Journal has said: "Ellman, along with his peers, is helping to define post millennial jazz." He has also been honored in the Jazz Times expanded critics poll, as one of the four top guitarists of 2015, with Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Julian Lage.
Discography
- Orthodoxy (Noir, 1997)
- Tactiles with Mark Shim, Greg Osby, Stephan Crump, Eric Harland (Pi, 2002)
- Ophiuchus Butterfly with Steve Lehman, Mark Shim, José Davila, Stephan Crump, Gerald Cleaver (Pi, 2006)
- Radiate with Steve Lehman, Stephan Crump, Jose Davila, Jonathan Finlayson, and Damion Reid (Pi, 2015)