What up! Thanks for dropping by my website. I'm Kevin Çelebi, a trumpet player and web developer based in St. Petersburg, FL. What's my role?
Take away everything else in my life, but don't strip me of music. I play the trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet and more as a mercenary in the Tampa Bay area for jazz groups, brass quintets, symphonies, funk bands, party/cover bands, and whomever else has fun and interesting music to play! I've been playing for as long as I can remember, never let myself go a day without practicing (the guilt keeps me from sleeping), and try to as immersed mentally as physically (since the trumpet's physical nature is very unforgiving). If you live in the area and want to jam, hire me, or just talk music, please reach out to me.
Related:MusicDiscographyVideosCompositionsArrangementsResumeGallery
see upcoming performances
My second love is tech. It's been my primary source of income since school (what, you think I can survive as a full-time musician down here? Are you crazy?). I've worked for higher ed institutions like DePauw University, Indiana University, Ringling College, New College of Florida, and Eckerd College (my current home); I've also freelanced and done some contract work for startups in the Tampa Bay area.
I've been all over the place, but primarily web development/DevOps and instructional technology. A lot of cats leave school with a pretty good idea of the area they want to get into, but for me it was the opposite: as opportunities started to open up to due to people leaving and roles being created, I fell into them and in love with them. I love working with faculty on eLearning solutions and learning management systems. I love developing applications and working under the hood with web servers, databases, endpoints, JSON, operating systems, etc. etc. And above all else, I love making beautiful sites! My resume has a more in-depth look at what I've worked and feel comfortable with.
see resume
Hopefully you weren't one of the witnesses of my old site, which was lazily thrown together in classic Google Sites. I finally took the time to sit down and rebuild this thing from scratch, and I refused to let this site go live until I had done one thing: release my debut album Purge Corruption. I now promise to keep it from ever rotting. I'll share music, musings, and more as they come along. Please keep coming back and give me your feedback! (And don't make up links that don't exist)
Related:Who did your site?Web portfolio
Other stuff about me:
If you want one of those condensed bios you can paste into a concert program or other release, here's one:
An adventurous yet soulful and flexible trumpeter hailing from Detroit, Kevin Çelebi started playing music when he was ten. He studied first with Marcus Belgrave (a Detroit legend), playing in the leader’s Civic Jazz Orchestra. After earning a music scholarship to DePauw University, from which he graduated with a BA in computer science and jazz studies, he moved to Indianapolis to attain his graduate degree at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, majoring in music. During this time he played locally with Indianapolis luminaries such as Rob Dixon and Mel Rhyne, among others. After IUPUI, he moved down to Sarasota, Florida, where he has joined and played with several groups, including the Naples Jazz Orchestra (playing with Doc Severinsen and Byron Stripling), The Jazz Phools, Hot Tonic, Big Night Out, Sarasota Jazz Project, Ken Loomer Big Band, Harmonic Sanity (a septet), his own quartet, and as a trumpet mercenary for hundreds of other groups. His debut CD as a leader, Purge Corruption, features Kenny Drew Jr. with original compositions and arrangements. His follow-up EP was submitted as an entry for the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Trumpet Competition.