Vijay Tellis-Nayak has received accolades for his musical talents since childhood and is currently sought after as one of the top musicians in Chicago as a keyboardist, producer, composer/arranger, and engineer. 

Vijay began studying classical piano at the age of 5 and by 11 had won numerous awards for his symphonic compositions. He began playing electric guitar at 13 and by 16 was performing professionally. Vijay attended Northwestern University receiving an undergraduate in Music Theory and Technology and a masters degree in Rhetoric/Mass Media.

As a keyboardist he has performed with top artists in genres ranging from jazz to pop to musical theater. Some of these include Marcus Miller, Jennifer Hudson, Chuck Berry, Billy Strings (w/Bela Fleck and Jack Pearson), Stewart Copeland, Umphrey’s McGee, Randy Brecker, The Paderewski Symphony Orchestra, The Milwaukee Symphony, Wicked, The Supremes, The Lion King, Howard Levy, Jon Irabagon, Dee Alexander, Fareed Haque, Bill Dickens, John Moulder, John McLean, and Grazyna Auguscik. He’s recently been touring with actor/singer Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy performing with members of REM and being featured on Late Night with Seth Myers.

He has also been featured in Keyboard/EQ magazine as ”Unsigned Artist of the Month” for his work with pioneering Chicago-based fusion group Kick the Cat.  KTC has recently been touring the country as part of Royal Artist Group in support of their latest album, “Gurgle”.  They’ve performed with many notable artists including Jeff Coffin, Bill Evans (sax), Sierra Hull, Cory Wong, Daru Jones, and in 2022 were featured as Down Beat Magazine’s “Critic’s Pick”. 

Vijay is also one of Chicago’s notable recording engineers/producers. For several years after college he ran a successful recording studio out of his home, turning out many of the city’s top jazz recordings. Outgrowing the space and with several successful productions under their belt, Vijay partnered with Steve Gillis in 2007 to build out Transient Sound, a full commercial recording studio. Vijay’s passion for jazz and acoustic recording has since put him at the helm of scores of projects featuring internationally renowned artists and Grammy Award winners including Kurt Elling, Brian Blade, Los Lobos, Donny McCaslin, Miguel Zenon, Oz Noy, Kenny Werner, Richie Bierach, Darryl Jones, Naked Raygun, Howard Levy, Trio Globo, Candyrat Records, Joe Locke/John McLean, and many more.