Ellen Kirkwood, born in Port Macquarie, Australia in 1985, is a trumpeter and composer, as well as a bandleader, teacher, and musician based out of Sydney. She earned a Bachelor of Music at Sydney Conservatorium, where she majored in Jazz Performance under the guidance of many Australian Jazz legends, including Warwick Alder and Judy Bailey. … Read more
Ryan Kisor, one of the Young Lions, was 17 years old when he won Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz’s first trumpet contest. His father had taught him trumpet, and he played in a local band at the age of ten. He began studying classical music two year later. Kisor was 14 when he discovered jazz. … Read more
Today’s jazz scene is dominated by Kiyoshi Kitagawa, a composer and bassist. Kiyoshi was born in Osaka in Japan in 1958. He began playing guitar when he was 14. At the age of 19, he switched to an acoustic basse. Kiyoshi started his career playing in various clubs in Kansai, Japan. He quickly rose to … Read more
Toni is a guitarist, composer/arranger and bandleader. He also teaches. Toni’s music has a lot of African-centric elements. Perhaps because he was a soccer player with African exchange students in his community, and borrowed records from their vast collections after each game. Oscar Salas is the master percussionist behind all of his musical collaborations. His … Read more
A guitar-sax/flute jazz duo influenced both by Roland Kirk, AACM and American jazz from CDBaby
Rahsaan Roland (from 1936 to 1977) was an American blind jazz saxophonist. He is perhaps most famous for his ability of playing more than one instrument at once. Kirk was born Ronald Kirk in Columbus, Ohio on 7 August 1936. However, he felt compelled to create Roland by transposing two letters from his first name. … Read more
Ed Kirkeby, (10 October 1891 – 12 June 1978), was a bandleader, singer, manager, and salesman. He is most well-known as Fats Waller’s manager. He was the first to record jazz at Columbia Records and organized the California Ramblers. He recorded extensively in the 1920s and 1930s using many pseudonyms to record, including The Little … Read more
Kari, a Canadian-born daughter of working musicians from the US and Kari, was raised in Canada. She travelled across North America driving her parents’ cars. Through the 2000’s, she was a member of various jazz, rock, cabaret and pop groups in Canada. She then moved to Europe in 2003, where she spent four years recording, … Read more
Wendy began her musical journey at the age of 8 when she took piano lessons. She was awarded a scholarship by Derbyshire Music to pay for all of her lessons. She also continued to study ABRSM piano. Wendy switched to jazz as an adult and became a pianist in dance classes, as well as an … Read more
Kenneth David Kirkland was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955. He was just six years old when he first began to play the piano. Kirkland attended Catholic school for many years before enrolling at Manhattan School of Music to study classical piano performance, theory, and composition. His first professional gig was with Polish fusion … Read more
