Kelly Oja is a talented bassist, composer, educator, and performer currently based in Los Angeles. She has been involved with music for as long as she can remember. Whether it was singing in church, taking piano lessons, or playing bass in the high school jazz band and orchestra, she couldn’t get enough music.

​

At Brigham Young University, Kelly received a Bachelor of Music in classical bass performance where she performed with a number of BYU’s top performing groups, including nearly all of the jazz ensembles, while working on her degree. Czech Republic, Russia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Brazil, and Australia are a few of the countries Kelly has been able to perform, teach, and tour in during her time at BYU. Her private teachers have included Eric Hansen, Martin Wind, Matt Larsen, Tony Moreno, and Alan Broadbent.

​

Kelly spent the just over a year working on her Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies at New York University. While in New York City, she was the bassist in the jazz quartet, Arctic Circle, as well as a steadily gigging bassist for numerous performers and venues.

​

Kelly has been a highly sought-after freelance electric and double bassist for over ten years. Her freelance work has kept her happily busy performing for numerous audiences, venues small and large, weddings, corporate parties, pit orchestras, local symphonies, recording studios and more. She has an extensive background in all genres from classical to pop.

​

Along with performing, Kelly’s favorite thing to do is share her love of music through teaching. She has taught privately for over ten years with students ranging in age from 5-55+. She has volunteered and worked as a coach for elementary through college age music students; she has coached bass sections, orchestras, and jazz ensembles. Her main goal with teaching is to help her students set and reach their personal musical goals.