Kelvin Lamar Sholar, (born May 22, 1973), is a Black American pianist, keyboardist, vocalist, bandleader, composer, arranger, musical director, model and educator.
Sholar’s career started at the age of five as a vocalist in Detroit, Michigan, with his mother’s choir. He later developed as a classical pianist, winning the Michigan Bach festival competition at sixteen. As a jazz pianist, Sholar worked with local artists like Kenny Gaddis, Larry Smith, Rodney Whittaker, Cassius Richmond, Marcus Belgrave, Quincy Stewart, Dean Haddad and Norma Jean Bell. Later, he gained much national and international exposure with Clark Terry, Lenny White, Wallace Roney, Kevin Saunderson, Bobby Watson, Mark Turner, Q-Tip, Greg Osby, Caron Wheeler, Jerry Gonzales, John Tchicai, Stevie Wonder, Nigel Kennedy and Carl Craig.
Over the course of his career, Sholar’s compositional and performance technique has primarily drawn on jazz, classical, afro and electro influences. Novelist Adam Mansbach writes: “Sholar employs broad instrumentation, augmenting his musicians with a spoken word artist and, at times, a sampler. The results sound like a kind of updated version of Herbie Hancock’s landmark Mwandishi Band, crossbred with Funkadelic, tutored by early-seventies Pharoah Sanders, and aesthetically engaged to the sounds of early ’90s hip hop”.
Kelvin Sholar has performed on over 100 recordings. He has composed over 300 compositions in various styles, many of which have been performed or recorded by dozens of musicians; including The Roots, Q-Tip, Lenny White, Norma Jean Bell, Kevin Michael Jones, Unity6, Nesin Howhannesijan, Kevin Jones And Tenth World, Esoterica, Kelvin Sholar Group, Transcendence and Babatunde Lea. Sholar has been awarded over ten musical awards, and he has personally appeared in dozens of international live interviews, media articles, radio and TV shows.
Sholar endorses Bösendorfer Pianos, Native Instrument’s “Maschine”, Focus Rite/Novation “X-Station”, Ableton’s “Live”, Ploytech’s “34ONEII” and “Pi Lambda Squared”, M-Audio’s “Axiom Air 49” and Dave Smith’s “Prophet 8” and “Oberheim 6”. Sholar was the first artist to perform and produce use Native Instrument’s Maschine; he is featured in Native Instrument’s “10 Years Maschine” promo video.
Sholar is dubbed a “modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci” (2013 Deutschland Radio Kultur/ Ilke Butzmann-Lorenzon). He has lectured on modern music at the Philipos Nakas Conservatory (Athens, Greece), Cité de la Musique (Marseilles, France), North Carolina Central University (Durham, NC, USA), Kyo Rei Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Escola International (São Paulo, Brazil) and Columbia University (New York, USA) and has developed a unique method of music theory outlined in his book The Sholar System.
Kelvin Sholar has been awarded:
- Best of Music (#8 of 10)/Artforum International (2009)
- IAJE Outstanding Service To Jazz Education (2005)
- Winner of scholarships from James Tatum Foundation For The Arts (1989 and 1990)
- Winner of the Michigan Bach Festival Competition (1990)
- IAJE Outstanding musician in Montreaux/Detroit Jazz Festival (1991)
- Outstanding musician in Aquinas Jazz Festival (1992)
- Best Soloist and Best Band in WEMU/Heritage Jazz Festival (1993)
- Outstanding pianist at The Clark Terry Jazz Camp (1994)
- Outstanding musicianship/Elmhurst Jazz Festival (1995 and 1996)
- Outstanding musicianship/Wichita Jazz Festival (1995 and 1996)
