Ryland Kelly

Ryland Kelly is quickly becoming recognized as one of the next great jazz composers and bandleaders. His songs are influenced by the works of Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, Kurt Rosenwinkel and other visionaries that took the music to another level. While being firmly rooted in the tradition, he is still pushing the music into the future with his distinct harmonies and memorable melodies. Hailing from Detroit, Ryland is part of next generation of great bass players, following in the footsteps of other Michigan natives Paul Chambers and Ron Carter. He also cites Charlie Haden, Jimmy Garrison and Larry Grenadier as influences, having assimilated their styles to forge his own unique voice on the instrument. Mr. Kelly is a recent graduate of The Juilliard school where he studied bass with Ben Wolfe, Dennis Irwin and David Grossman of the New York Philharmonic; composition with David Berger. He also partook in numerous classes with Carl Allen, Mark Turner, Wynton Marsalis, and jazz legends Benny Golson and Hank Jones. As a sideman he has performed with Eric Lewis, Benny Green, Dr. Billy Taylor, Junior Mance, Joe Wilder, Clark Terry, Joel Frahm, James Moody, Marcus Belgrave, etc. Ryland also performs with many great musicians of his own generation such as Jonathan Batiste, Brandon Lee, Ben Van Gelder, Dominick Farinacci and Peter Schlamb.