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Kitt Lyles

Kitt Lyles – Bassist, Composer, Arranger, Educator & Bandleader

A graduate of Northwestern University (BM Jazz Studies, 2013), Kitt Lyles is an active performer, composer and educator in the Chicago jazz community. His performing career has brought him to play renowned jazz clubs around North America, Latin America and Asia, as well as major festivals such as the Chicago Jazz Festival (Chicago, IL), Festival Espontáneo (Chiapas, MX) and the Billy Strayhorn Jazz Festival (Chicago, IL). In 2015, Lyles released his debut album, “Real Talk”, featuring all original compositions; “it’s success rests as much on his skills as a writer as his serving as a beacon for the sextet's able rhythm section…his colourful themes… are by and large bright and engaging” (Jack Bowers, All About Jazz). Kitt has performed with renowned ensembles and individuals of the music scenes in Chicago, South Carolina, New York City and Mexico such as the Roy McGrath Quartet, Black Diamond, Gustavo Cortiñas, Victor Goines, Justin Copeland, Adam Thornburg, Hans Luchs, Amos Hoffman, Mike Allemana, Yuri Hevia, Tony Normand, and Gabriel Puentes amongst many others. Kitt Lyles began his music career in South Carolina at the age of 13 when he bought a bass in order to perform Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit" in the talent show at his middle school. He hasn’t looked back since, discovering jazz at the Greenville Fine Arts Center in the 10th grade where he studied with former LA studio musician Steve Watson and not long after began his study of upright bass with Greenville Symphony Principal Bassist Ian Bracchitta. His passion for music led him to continue his studies with Ian Bracchitta at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. At UNCA he also had the opportunity to study big band arranging and composition with David Wilken, eventually having a composition of his performed by the Asheville Jazz Orchestra. He got his first classical performance experience while in Asheville as a member of the UNCA Chamber Orchestra, and in a performance with the Blue Ridge Symphony Orchestra at the Diana Wortham Theatre. After a year in Asheville, Kitt’s desire to delve deeper into the jazz tradition led him to Chicago to finish his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University where he studied with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis Septet members Victor Goines and Carlos Henriquez, as well as Chicago saxophonist, composer, and arranger Chris Madsen. Under the guidance of these inspirational teachers Kitt further honed his skills as a performer, composer, arranger, bandleader, and sideman. He also strengthened his artistic vision and understanding of jazz’s relevance and influence in the world. Upon graduating Northwestern in 2013, Lyles remained in Chicago, where he has continued to work with some of the greatest and most creative musicians that this musical city has to offer. His performances engage in a wide variety of styles and genres, including Jazz, Blues, Latin, Rock, Funk, Bluegrass, Folk, and Classical. His participation in Gustavo Cortiñas’ internationally acclaimed album “Snapshot" featuring Victor Goines and Mike Allemana, as well as Roy McGrath’s DownBeat reviewed “Martha”, Sasha Bayan’s “Do I Know You?” and Funky Hot Grits’ “Runaround”, exemplify the work that has and continues to put forward in Chicago.

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Album Review

Emily Kuhn: Ghosts of Us

Read "Ghosts of Us" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Emily Kuhn is a trumpet player from Chicago with a calm, lyrical tone whose music is influenced by the folk and classical worlds as well as jazz. That shows up strongly on the track “In Lieu of Certainty, Movement" here, where pianist Meghan Stagl keeps a rippling neo-classical melody going while Kuhn and guitarist Erik Skov solo in front of her with ever-increasing force and purpose. “When The World Is Young" begins with lovely drifting Spanish guitar from Skov before ...

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Album Review

Matt Peterson: Better Worlds

Read "Better Worlds" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Chicago pianist Matt Peterson is a versatile artist who defies genres. He is both an accomplished, bop-based improviser as well as a sensitive interpreter of the Western classical tradition. Both elements of his style come together on the exuberant and captivating Better Worlds, a collection of 10 of his originals as well as a unique arrangement of The Beatles' “Blackbird." One of the highlights of the uniformly superb album is “Petrichor," which opens with Peterson's smoldering chords that ...

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Album Review

Kitt Lyles: Real Talk

Read "Real Talk" reviewed by Edward Blanco


An active performer and educator in the Chicago jazz community, young bassist Kitt Lyles is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Jazz Studies and has performed in venues throughout North America, Latin America and Asia. A sideman on various other recordings, Lyles introduces his debut recording as leader on Real Talk presenting eight original compositions of the contemporary nature. The bassist surrounds himself with a core quintet of Chicago-area musicians, all educators and leaders in ...

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Album Review

Kitt Lyles: Real Talk

Read "Real Talk" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


For his debut recording bassist/composer Kitt Lyles draws on his love for the jazz tradition, as well as southern folk and blues. A South Carolina native now residing in Chicago, he leads a working sextet (with one additional player on two tracks) through a varied program of originals. The title tune is built on a vamp, with guitarist Hans Luchs and tenor saxophonist Roy McGrath opening, joined by the trumpeter Justin Copeland. “Snowfall On Carolina" is an upbeat swing tune, ...

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Album Review

Kitt Lyles: Real Talk

Read "Real Talk" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Real Talk is the debut album for young South Carolina-bred bassist Kitt Lyles who earned a degree in Jazz Studies from Northwestern University in 2013. As all the compositions are Lyles,' its success rests as much on his skills as a writer as his serving as a beacon for the sextet's able rhythm section. How does Lyles fare as a composer / arranger? Quite well, actually. His colorful themes, while a stride or two short of memorable, are by and ...

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"The stillness and sense of reverie that McGrath and his quartet brought to bassist Kitt Lyles' "Though the Steady Hand May Tremble" epitomized the seriousness of their work, especially in Lyles' blues-inspired solo. McGrath, a musical extrovert to the core, eventually built to quite a frenzy in his own cadenza, yet he never sacrificed the gleaming purity of his sound." Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

"Kitt Lyles plays with a solid, earthy tone and an unerring sense of groove. He has a particular gift for playing pedal points, buoying what could be a static musical moment with elation and color." Dan Healy, Chicago Jazz Magazine

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Better Worlds

Self Produced
2023

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Ghosts of Us

Self Produced
2023

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Desafío Candente

Woolgathering Records
2021

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Real Talk

Saluda Records
2016

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Real Talk

Saluda Records
2015

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Videos

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