Guitarist / composer / educator Liberty Ellman has performed and or recorded with a host of stand out creative artists including: Joe Lovano, Myra Melford, Wadada Leo Smith, Butch Morris, Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, Greg Osby, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Nels Cline, Somi, Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Ledisi, JD Allen, Michele Rosewoman, Adam Rudolph, Stephan Crump, Jonathan Finlayson, Okkyung Lee, and Ches Smith. In 2014 Ellman performed in “Luanda Kinshasa”, a video installation by visionary filmmaker Stan Douglas and Jason Moran. Mr. Ellman has been teaching privately and at various institutions over the last 20 years, including The New School and U.C. Berkeley. Played faculty concerts at the California Jazz Conservatory with Dave Liebman, Mark Turner and Terri Lynne Carrington.

Mr. Ellman is perhaps best known for his long tenure in Henry Threadgill's groundbreaking ensemble, Zooid. The group has recorded several critically lauded albums. Their recording "In For A Penny, In For A Pound" earned a Pulitzer prize for Mr. Threadgill. In addition to playing guitar, Mr. Ellman is credited as producer and mixing engineer on that recording. He has mixed and mastered many other recordings as well, including Gregory Porter's "Be Good," which was nominated for a Grammy. Other engineering credits are on albums by Sam Rivers, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Marc Ribot, Steve Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Tyshawn Sorey. More credits here.

As a composer and bandleader Mr. Ellman has produced several critically acclaimed recordings including: Orthodoxy (Red Giant Records), Tactiles, Ophiuchus Butterfly, Radiate, and Last Desert (Pi Recordings).  Ellman’s compositional style has been described as "At once highly controlled and recklessly inventive,” and “quite original and subtle." Ben Ratliff of the New York Times wrote: “Mr. Ellman's ballads are special, exotic things: their melodies are memorable.” Quote from the Wall Street Journal: “Along with his contemporaries, Mr. Ellman is helping define the sound of jazz in the 21st century.” Voted #1 Rising Star Guitarist in the 2016 Downbeat Critics Poll, he was also honored in the 2015 Jazz Times expanded critics poll, as one of the four guitarists of the year alongside Bill Frisell, John Scofield and Julian Lage.

Liberty Ellman has also worked beyond the jazz world: hip hop artists Midnight Voices, and The Coup, dance producer DJ Joe Claussell, and worked on remixes of N'Dea Davenport, Chico Freeman, Ann Dyer, Ayo and others. He also made an appearance on the Grammy nominated Groove Collective record, People People Music Music.