Ophiuchus Butterfly

Liberty Ellman

Liberty Ellman

Born in London, England in 1971, and raised in New York City until he was 11 or 12, Liberty moved to San Francisco, Mill Valley CA where he went to high school. The child of musicians his early influences came from his mother’s record collection; Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Brecker Brothers, Herbie Mann, Ohio Players, Prince, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Jackson 5, Beethoven, Ravi Shankar, The Police, Albert King. This early diversity has helped to keep his tastes eclectic to this day.

While at the University of California State Sonoma, SSU, Liberty lived two blocks away from Yoshis (the original one on Claremont) where he got the opportunity to regularly: see artists such as Joe Henderson, Tony Williams, McCoy Tyner, Amahd Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Betty Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, Jim Hall, Jimmy Smith, Billy Higgins.

After college Liberty became a very active member of the then emerging San Francisco scene that was developing in clubs like the Up and Down, Elbo Room, Eleven, Enricos, Cafe DuNord, Brunos, Jupiter and others. During this time Liberty performed with musicians such as Dred Scott, Kenny Brooks, Graham Connah, Ben Goldberg, Trevor Dunn, Eric Crystal, Elliot Kavee, Dave MacNab, Sheldon Brown, Jon Evans, Will Bernard, John Schott, Charlie Hunter, Josh Jones, Scott Amendola, Derrek Phillips, Deszon Claiborne, Jeff Chimenti, Hafez Modirzadeh, Anthony Brown. Eddie Marshall, Calvin Keys, Ed Kelly, E.W. Wainwright. Significantly though, Liberty association with Vijay Iyer began. Along with saxophonist D'Armous Boone, Liberty, Vijay and Brad Hargreaves began working in more detailed and conceptual way. Extended rehearsal process and discussion allowed for the realization of music in a way that that couldn’t get from a “one rehearsal” type of band.

During Liberty’s time in San Francisco he began his own label Red Giant Records and released Orthodoxy, performed with Hip Hop groups Midnight Voices and The Coup, R and B band Anibade, innovative koto artist/composer Miya Masaoka, recorded with Vijay on, Memorophila, and Archetextures, collaborated and toured with San Francisco Mime Troupe, wrote the music and did sound design for The Magic Theater’s 30th anniversary production of Sam Sheppard’s True West, and played with Steve Coleman in a version of the Mystic Rhythm Society, an influence which is evident in Liberty’s playing today.

In December of 1998, Liberty returned to New York. A regular two year gig at the Rouge provided the ground necessary for Liberty to continue to experiment. With Stephan Crump on bass and Derrek Philiips on drums, Liberty was able to focus on his writing and compositional voice. Some of the music from that period made it onto Tactiles.

Since being in New York Liberty has performed with Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Greg Osby, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Dafnis Prieto, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Eric Harland, Harold Ousley, Jason Moran, Oliver Lake, Bob Stewart, Marty Erlich, Aaron Stewart, Mark Shim, Steve Lehman, Craig Taborn. Drew Gress, Francois Moutin, Mat Maneri, Peter Apfelbaum, Josh Roseman, Michele Rosewoman, Barney McAll, Nasheet Waits, Mark Helias, JT Lewis, Graham Haynes, as well as Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie amongst other.

He calls his association with Henry Threadgill one of particular significance to him over the last five and a half years. As a member of Henry's band ZOOID, he has learned more about composition and band leading than in all of his previous experiences combined.