Introduction: Hello, and welcome!
My name is Matt Kellen, and I am a touring drummer, drum set/percussion/piano instructor, vocalist, music producer, and audio engineer, living right outside Chicago.
Born in Geneva, Illinois in 1991, I come from a music loving family. My father has been successfully performing as a pianist and teaching piano and music lessons since 1989, as one of the pioneers in Group Piano instruction. I personally have been creating music since 1994, and teaching music since 2005.
When I was three years old, my late brother Jacob Kellen, was born with Potters Syndrome. The extreme medical trauma Jake endured throughout his entire twenty three year life massively shaped my connection with music and life, as he was sick most days, and a constant audience member to my drum and piano practice. Though times around the house were nearly always difficult, there was a consistent reason for me to play and express my joy onto the drums; I simply wanted to do everything that I could to make his life as wonderful as possible, for as long as he was able to be with us.
At eleven, I began studying with the great drum-set instructor, Vern Spevak, and would continue to study with him for the next ten years. At thirteen years of age, I began playing professionally with many well respected professional musicians in Chicago. I began teaching private drum lessons by age fourteen, and since then, have had students go on to perform successfully throughout Chicago and the USA, as well as pursue college degrees in music and music production, while performing in top ensembles at schools like Elmhurst College, DePaul University, Lawrence University, and Birch Creek Music Camp.
Throughout my High School music career, I performed in top ensembles at the Birch Creek Percussion Camp, NIU’s Jazz Camp, Pioneer Indoor Drumline (directed by Adam Hill of Chicago Bulls Drumline), and the Illinois Music Educators Association. I was also able to participate in and win various drum-set competitions, such as the IMEA District 9 jazz competition, the Louie Bellson Drum-Set Competition, and the 2009 regional Guitar Center Drum Off.
For my bachelors degree, I received a scholarship to attend Elmhurst College majoring in Jazz Studies, from 2010 till 2014. During my time at the college, I performed in the Elmhurst College Jazz Band, a group that Downbeat Magazine heralds as “the top undergraduate jazz ensemble in the USA”. As the drummer for the Jazz Band for my entire tenure at Elmhurst, I performed with artists such as Doc Severinsen, DeeDee Bridgewater, Simone (daughter of jazz vocalist Nina Simone) John Fedchock, Jeff Hamilton, Liam Teague, Gary Smulyan, Bobby Shew, Andy Martin, Dennis Mackrel, and many other world renowned artists. In 2013, the band recorded our record "Love For Sale”, which was voted the best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording, in the 37th Annual DownBeat Student Music Awards.
The EC Jazz Band played over 60 concerts yearly, and we went on four different international tours, including to Chile, Serbia (3 years in a row), Bulgaria, and Croatia.
While studying at Elmhurst, I had the privilege of working directly with:
- Doug Beach (Count Basie Band, New York Voices, Grammy award winning arranger and bandleader, led the Elmhurst College Jazz Studies department for over forty years)
- Mark Colby (Frank Sinatra, Dr. John, Willy Pickett, Bill Wyman, Maynard Ferguson, Bob James)
- Bob Rummage (Dizzy Gillespie, Nat Adderly, Benny Golson, Bela Fleck)
- Frank Caruso (CSO, Luciano Pavarotti, Louie Bellson, Billy Joel, Count Basie Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson)
- Frank Portolese (Eddie Harris, Les McCann, Shelley Manne, Peter Erskine, Ira Sullivan, Clay Aiken, Rodney Whittaker, Catherine Russell, Buddy Childers, Ron Blake, Mike Dease, Victor Garcia, Howard Levy)
After studying at Elmhurst, I immediately began teaching and performing full time. Since 2014, I have worked with over 80 different students of all ages, most of whom have gone on to play in school ensembles, form their own bands, write their own compositions, thriving musically outside the lesson room. I officially started my own lesson business, Matt’s Music Lessons, in 2019, and have worked with over twenty five clients weekly since opening. From 2014 till 2016, I performed live throughout midwest USA with the funk/fusion band Crisp, and performed multiple times per week as a jobbing drummer. In May of 2016, I received a last minute call from the Chicago rock band Mungion, to perform at the 2016 Summercamp Music Festival. After 12 hours of rehearsal in the two days leading up to the show, we played a wild set of music at the fest, which catapulted us into three and a half years of touring and recording, opening for and headlining concerts with bands like Moe., Lettuce, Bob Marley’s Wailers, Goose, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Tauk, Spafford, and Aqueous. In 2018, I was invited to perform an entire Pink Floyd tribute set, with Chuck Garvey of Moe., Eli Winderman of Dopapod, and Mike Gantzer and Evan McPhaden of Aqueous.
After successfully touring with Mungion, I decided to refocus my energy in to my teachings, personal music compositions, drum set performance, and Audio/Video production. I got a call in February 2020, to tour with Ike Willis, the world famous frontman for Frank Zappa’s band from 1979 till 1989. For two weeks, I toured with Ike and the Brothers of Invention (Marcus Rezak on gtr, Scott Hannay on keys, Dave Nolden on bass) throughout Washington, Oregon, and Illinois.
Immediately after the tour with Ike, in March of 2020, our planet was thrown into uncertainty due to the Covid 19 pandemic. I rented a small house, and pivoted my music performance outlet to broadcasting live on Twitch and YouTube in November of 2020. My main focus of the pandemic years, was to provide young music students with super high quality and exciting one on one remote and in person music lessons, in an effort to keep the fires of creativity and musical exploration burning in the youth as hope seemed scarce. In 2023, I finally hosted my first student concert broadcasts, and moved back to Elmhurst in an effort to expand on all the experience I gained during my lifetime.
I currently live in Elmhurst, with my partner, Dr. Abby Sapadin. We met at the Birch Creek Percussion Camp in 2006, as two young drummers, and she is now my absolute greatest supporter. Abby is a classically trained percussionist and musician, and is now a full time Physician of Emergency Medicine! Our hobbies include making music, gardening, taking care of Goose the cat, creating delicious food, and supporting artists across the Chicagoland area. We have a full basement recording studio, where we teach and perform from.
As a teacher, my goal is to give all of my students, especially kids, a safe place to discover and share their music. I believe that it is important to allow my students to experiment with music performance in an environment that fosters creativity and exploration, rather than competition and comparison. My lessons focus on what YOU want out of music. While my students need to practice regularly, in order to get the most out of the lessons and master fundamentals, everything we do will be rooted in your path and your goals. You will be seen and heard in my studio, and I hope to help you reach all of your goals as a musician!
