KELP
We are of fluid iterations from duo to quintet and beyond. Our music draws from many genres, including jazz fusion, classical, progressive rock, improvisation, and the avant-garde. Cellist and composer Tom Kersey recruits fantastic musicians for each performance featuring instruments including violin, viola, saxophone, clarinet, bass, drums, guitar, keyboard and more.
ABOVE: from KELP’s performance for thirtyonesixtyrecording on 22 February 2026
KELP was formed in the early 2000s by cellist and composer Tom Kersey. While studying music composition and cello performance at university, as he wrote orchestral and chamber music in a contemporary classical style, and practiced for classical recitals and orchestra concerts, Kersey felt a strong need to improvise and perform his original music which belongs more in a jazz club, rock bar, or art gallery than in a concert hall. Thus, KELP was born as an idea, an idea which becomes reality on special occasions when Tom assembles a “super group” of some of the Southeast’s best musicians under the moniker of KELP. It is then that Kersey’s compositions are performed and used as jumping-off points for group and solo improvisation. KELP also performs jazz standards, seasoning them with the groups signature briny flavor.
ALBUM BELOW: live at WMNF 88.5 studios in Tampa, FL. A quartet affair featuring Tom Kersey on cello, Mark Feinman; drums, and the amazing father/son duo of David Pate on saxophones, and Ryan Pate on the guitar.