Thursday, December 7, 2023

Young phenom jazz guitarist Ronnie Elliott will lead a trio of veteran musicians - Phillip Howe/piano, Kevin Kehrberg/bass, and Kevin Korschgen/drums ... Downbeat Magazine's 2023 Jazz Soloist winner, Ronnie Elliott, age 14, began his jazz guitar studies at age 7 with Greenville's Matt Dingledine. By age 8, Ronnie was regularly playing at the Greenville Jazz Collective Jazz Jam and by age 9, joined the Greenville Jazz Collective's Youth Jazz Ensemble as rhythm guitarist, under the direction of Kevin Korschgen. That same year he was featured at the GJC Local Composers concert for one of his original tunes. In 2019 the Greenville Journal published a cover story on Ronnie's work busking downtown as part of a feature on local musicians. During 2021, Ronnie served as Arts Ambassador for the Boys and Girls Club of America, with his videos being shared to all 4 million youth. This year Ronnie was named a finalist in the Dallas International Guitar Festival Competition but was prevented from playing because of a broken arm. Ronnie has performed with trumpeter Etienne Charles and has played in masterclasses with James Carter and Ignacio Berroa. In 2022 Ronnie led a band at Fall for Greenville, with band members Shannon Hoover, Paul Banman, and Kevin Korschgen. Ronnie has been a student of NYC guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg for the past three and a half years and is currently a first-year student at the Fine Arts Center, under the direction of Steve Watson.