Liberty Ellman

Who is Liberty Ellman?

Liberty Ellman 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, Liberty attended Greenwich Village's progressive, City and Country School.

In the 1990s, Ellman was associated with the M-Base musical scene active in San Francisco, California, where he played with Eric Crystal. He also worked with hip hop artists such as the Coup and Midnight Voices, and composed pieces for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. He released his debut album on his own Red Giant Records in 1997, and moved back to New York City the following year. There, he worked with Henry Threadgill's Zooid, and Rudresh Mahanthappa, among others, and released two albums on Pi Recordings.