About

Daniel Kemshell was born in Aberdeen, Scotland to a Bruneian mother and English father. Focussing on the fields of improvisation, composition and contemporary music on guitar, he has been described as “a very promising soloist” (London Jazz News) and “an impressive young guitarist with a lovely tone.” (Birmingham Jazz).

He brings an explorative, dynamic and versatile approach on the guitar – informed by jazz, rock, noise and experimental music – with many of the UK’s bright and emerging jazz/contemporary artists; which include the avant-jazz-rock group Snackwall (led by Jack Banjo Courtney), acclaimed UK trumpeter Byron Wallen’s Hurricane Bells, George Garford’s Ideasthesia, Olivia Murphy’s Jazz Orchestra and multiple groups by his close collaborator, Olly Chalk (houndsbleat, In These Remote Stars). He also released an EP with Olly Chalk in 2023, called Impromptus. This digital-release presents a collaboration with pianist Olly Chalk, featuring five short pieces with compositions by both musicians, showcasing their explorations into duo sound-sculpting and improvisation. Daniel’s upcoming, currently un-released project features all-original compositions, featuring Aram Bahmaie (bass) and Jack Robson (drums) in a power trio format with vast dynamic range and sonic exploration – recorded at Lightship 95 Studios in April 2025.

Daniel also has a growing portfolio of credits across an eclectic range of artists. In the jazz/contemporary world credits include with British-Malaysian composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman (hot B stars – 2020, sleep future sleep – 2022), Kasper Rietkerk, Simeon May Quartet, Xhosa Cole, Corrie Dick, in//motion and more. He also performs with singer-songwriter Roman Lewis and has recorded on his upcoming release, Mindless Town, produced by Catherine Marks and is the lead guitarist in Sedilia, a band made up with some of his closest friends. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he recorded guitar with Sounding Eye Collective on Dreamerfly, and other stories (2021) – a 45-minute interdisciplinary performance/installation work combining music (co-produced by Gloria Yehilevsky and James Owston) with animated visual performance by Shiyi Li. It premiered at the Thirteen Ways Of Looking exhibition at the Herbert Museum, Coventry before relocating to the Beijing Times Art Museum (China) and being performed live at Flatpack Film Festival in Birmingham. In recent years, Daniel has also played guitar in an increasing number of UK theatre productions – he played guitar on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2023 touring production of Julius Caesar (dir. Atri Banerjee), the London premiere and Original Cast Recording of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Ride The Cyclone (Southwark Playhouse) and the hit off-West End musical, In Clay.

He is a graduate from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire BMus(Hons) Jazz programme, and completed a Masters in performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in 2020 with support from Help Musicians UK.