Elden Kelly

Elden Kelly impresses audiences with his ability to combine jazz with a broad range of music traditions. In addition to incorporating a variety of virtuoso guitar and vocal approaches, he has developed his own syncretic style on various instruments such as the Arabic oud, the Turkish cumbus and the Glissentar, an 11-string fretless guitar. In a single live show, Kelly's music ranges from full-on, over-the-top shredding to honest heartfelt, expressive songs, to sounds reminiscent of Indian scat mixed with an Arabic-style call to prayer. Balancing virtuosity and soulfulness, Kelly will take you on a musical journey to reimagined homelands.

After graduating from Boston’s prestigious New England Conservatory of Music with a degree in Contemporary Improvisation in 2008, Elden accepted a full scholarship and teaching assistantship at Michigan State with Rodney Whitaker, earning a graduate degree in Ethnomusicology in 2011.

Kelly's recorded offerings are just beginning to showcase the scope and diversity of his ability. His 2007 release with vocalist Le Zhang, Dreams of Yesterday features a mix of jazz, and chinese folk songs. His follow-up CD, 1000 Doors is a compilation of original music settings for solo voice and guitar of the sacred writings of the Baha’i Faith. His 2010 Solo EP, is the most recent collection of his original songs and instrumentals. The Spaces Between Us, a trio outing with vocalist/violinist Tia Imani Hanna and percussionist Carolyn Koebel, was released October 2012.