Born in Guadalajara, Mexico to an American father and a Mexican mother, Tom Kessler is a guitarist, bassist, composer and educator, with a diverse output characterized by the bridging of seemingly distant musical worlds.

He works in a wide variety of genres from jazz and traditional music forms to free improvisation and experimental electronics. His music investigates and utilizes the contrasting dynamics between tradition and technology, improvisation and composition, as well as the familiar and the abstract.

His sonic vocabulary incorporates methods from diy and open source electronics, and a wide array of both conventional and extended instrumental techniques refined over more than two decades of practice. He has performed in venues and festivals across the globe and recorded several albums as a leader and sideman.