Violinist presents lifetime of music in one concert – JH News & Guide

In the hands of an able musician, an acoustic instrument like a violin, an inanimate wooden object, can be brought to life.

For most of his 41 years, fiddler Jeremy Kittel has been training and practicing to do just that. He’s been exploring and experimenting in a broad range of ensembles and styles — classical, jazz, Celtic, bluegrass and beyond.

“I was a jazz major,” Kittel said earlier this month, “but I was studying classical violin as part of it the whole time. Beyond all the amazing music for violin, there’s a long tradition of teaching the different tones, the different feelings and emotions you can draw from your instrument.”

Kittel will show some of what his instrument can do when he brings his quintet, Kittel and Co., to Jackson for a performance tonight in the Center Theater, the final concert of the Grand Teton Music Festival’s 2025-26 winter series.

While the group bears a resemblance to a bluegrass quintet — with Kittel on fiddle, Joshua Pinkham on mandolin, Quinn Bachand on guitar, Jacob Warren on bass and Simon Chrisman on hammered dulcimer — it transcends musical boundaries.

Born and raised in Saline, Michigan, Kittel heard all kinds of music growing up.

“We’re a little Scottish,” he said of his family, “and the Scottish part knew the elders, went to folk festivals and music hangs.”

His middle school teacher, Bob Phillips, a widely recognized innovator in string education, had Kittel and his classmates playing classical and folk music, but also taught them to improvise from an early age.

“I played only jazz for 10 years,” he said.

read the full story