Elden Kelly

Guitar virtuoso, improviser, and composer Elden Kelly (he/him) is a genre-crossing innovator whose sound grows out of a deep command of jazz and classical forms. He can conjure the voices of world instruments from his guitars — bouzouki, oud, sarod, sitar — and audiences are often left both perplexed and dazzled by his use of the Magic Fret, a rotating fret system that turns his guitar from fretted to fretless mid-song.

The renowned luthier Ken Parker — creator of the Parker Fly — called him a “once in a generation player,” and was so taken with his playing that he awarded him a 1980 nylon-string archtop on permanent loan. His artistry has also drawn praise from fellow guitarists Fareed Haque, Lionel Loueke, and Bill Frisell, who told him simply: “You sound so fantastic. Beautiful.”

He has performed or recorded alongside Grammy winners Rhonda Larson (Paul Winter Consort), Bakithi Kumalo, and Remy Le Boeuf, and multi-Grammy-nominated artists Jamey Haddad, Marion Hayden, and Regina Carter. Beyond jazz and world fusion, he has also recorded with kirtan and sacred-music artists, including on the album Love Is Awake, which reached #1 on the iTunes World Music charts.