Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman is a guitarist first. He had composer and guitarist credits galore before he ever had a producer credit. Once he crossed over into the full producer range, from 2016 to 2018, he had a three song build up into cementing what would become his main superpower and brought his instrumental prowess with him. Two songs by southern powerhouse Kirby, “Loved By You” and “Vain,” as well as a one-off for the silky songstress Snoh Aalegra, “Walls,” proved a deft ability in Gitty to weave his twangy soulful guitar into open pockets perfect for deep croons. He provided r&b cadences with a distinct grain to vocalists who knew exactly how to intertwine their melodic emotions within them.
Next, naturally, came one of the peaks of Gitty’s career. Six credited tracks on H.E.R.’s best project to this day to my ears, 2018’s I Used To Know Her. The title of the project suggests a reveal of the singer’s layered soul, but it also unveils her capacity to stretch her sound to various arrays of r&b pockets. Gitty was brought into the fold so H.E.R. could find the depth of her edge. On tracks like “Lost Souls” and “Racks” H.E.R. would slickly swerve into hip hop fusion, on songs like “Can’t Help It” and “Feel A Way” she’d traverse a bounty of melancholy blues-laden sounds, and on “Take You There” and “As I Am” she’d blossom via cloudlike glistening epiphanies. The album made her hard to pin down while also maintaining a pure r&b ethos, Gitty was the glue.
Before getting back to his early muse for another set of pure heat on an album, Gitty would go on a run of great guitar-centered slick soul numbers for the likes of Nao, Sir, Alina Baraz, Jorja Smith, and more from 2018 to 2021. Here he added even more pockets like reggae and alt pop to his r&b core. Then came H.E.R.’s 2021 album Back Of My Mind. “Damage” is perhaps the greatest H.E.R. song ever recorded as it fuses the deep melancholy with thunderous yearning. “Bloody Waters” is her best homage to 70s soul in her catalog and the rest of their tracks together further cemented their chemistry.
After a slew of another set of one-offs for Amber Mark, Teddy Swims, and more, Gitty did an expanded repetition of his earliest aha moment. Replacing Kirby and Snoh were Tank and The Bangas and Sabrina Claudio in 2022 for a set of 7 excellent tracks. The smoothness got even more ethereal and the edge got even more solidified with jazzier rhythms. From 2022 through 2024, Gitty kept evolving his mastery to both the rugged (Hozier) and glistening (Muni Long & Victoria Monet) sides. But what came last year in 2025 (where I ranked him the 12th best producer) is when the amalgamation of tactics that fueled the superpower crystallized into a banner tier output.
Gitty was (as I’ve previously referred to him as) a swiss army knife of r&b edgy production for the likes of Giveon, Jessie Reyez, Teddy Swims, and Elmiene going from dimly lit r&b/jazz club to a smokey festival field to grungy mid-sized venue to church. It was like he chose four quadrants of modern r&b textures and executed the peak tones of each of them within a single year.
Gitty has continued this run into this year with upstart Sekou as well as Elmiene, Reyez, and Giveon again. But his most compelling recent work is with the funk laced crooner tig3r lewis, who’s chemistry with Gitty feels ready for Hollywood Bowl-like outdoor venues with a ranging extended member EWF style band. I’m hoping to see Gitty as the maestro of it all.
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