Liberty Ellman

Liberty Ellman (born July 17, 1971) is a jazz guitarist born in London and raised in the United States, beginning in New York City. In the early 1980s, Ellman's family moved to California. Before leaving New York, he attended City and Country School in Greenwich Village.

In the 1990s, Ellman was associated with the M-Base musical scene in San Francisco, California, where he played with Vijay Iyer, Miya Masaoka, Ledisi, Steve Coleman, Eric Crystal, EW Wainwright's African Roots of Jazz, Omar Sosa, and D'Armous Boone Collective. He worked with hip hop acts the Coup and Midnight Voices, and performed opening spots for Devo, Ice Cube, Pharcyde, and the Stray Cats. During this time Ellman composed for the San Francisco Mime Troupe.He released his debut album on his label, Red Giant Records, in 1997 and moved back to New York City the following year.

Ellman has performed and recorded with Ben Goldberg, Okkyung Lee, Steve Lehman, Joe Lovano, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Barney McAll, Myra Melford, Butch Morris, Greg Osby, Matana Roberts, Josh Roseman, Michele Rosewoman, and Wadada Leo Smith. In 2014 he worked with Jason Moran as part of Luanda Kinshasa, a video installation by filmmaker Stan Douglas. In 2016 he was asked by John Zorn to perform a solo concert of a selection of Zorn's Bagatelles.

He is a member of Henry Threadgill's ensemble, Zooid. Threadgill's album In for a Penny, in for a Pound won a Pulitzer Prize for Music. Ellman is credited as producer and mixing engineer on that album. He mixed and mastered Be Good by Gregory Porter. The album was nominated for Grammy Award.

In 2016, Ellman was voted No. 1 Rising Star guitarist in the DownBeat magazine Critics' Poll. The expanded Critics' Poll at JazzTimes magazine named him one of the top jazz guitarists of 2015 with Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Julian Lage.

As leader

• Orthodoxy (Noir, 1997)
• Tactiles(Pi, 2002)
• Ophiuchus Butterfly (Pi, 2006)
• Radiate (Pi, 2015)

As sideman

With Chico Hamilton

• 2006 6th Avenue Romp
• 2008 The Alternate Dimensions of Elchico

With Vijay Iyer

• 1995 Memorophilia
• 1998 Architextures
• 2003 In What Language?
• 2007 Still Life with Commentator with Mike Ladd
• 2013 Holding It Down: The Veterans' Dreams Project with Mike Ladd

With Jason Robinson

• 2010 The Two Faces of Janus
• 2012 Tiresian Symmetry

With Somi

• 2014 The Lagos Music Salon
• 2017 Petite Afrique

With Henry Threadgill

• 2001 Up Popped the Two Lips
• 2009 This Brings Us To, Vol. I
• 2010 This Brings Us To, Vol. II
• 2012 Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry
• 2015 In for a Penny, In for a Pound

With others

• 2003 Treats for the Nightwalker, Josh Roseman
• 2005 Underneath a Brooklyn Moon, J. C. Hopkins
• 2006 People People Music Music, Groove Collective
• 2006 Ready, Jen Chapin
• 2010 Dual Identity, Steve Lehman/Rudresh Mahanthappa
• 2011 The Music of Paul Motian, Joel Harrison
• 2015 Snowy Egret, Myra Melford
• 2015 Turning Towards the Light, Go: Organic Orchestra/Adam Rudolph