Taylor Eigsti

Two-Time Grammy Nominee Taylor Eigsti (born September 24, 1984) is an American jazz pianist, most associated with post-bop. He also incorporates elements of funk and soul music.

He began at an unusually early age and because of this was often called a child prodigy [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/cover/1997_Nov_5.COVER5.html] [http://www.jazziz.com/pages/jazziz_on_disc/extended/V20N11extended.asp] [http://www.bet.com/Contests/Concord+Next+Generation+Sweepstakes.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished] . He started studying piano at four and by age eight he opened for David Benoit. He had his first CD, not sold nationally, at 14 with Dan Brubeck on drums and at 15 joined the teaching staff at the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University.

At the same time he graduated from Woodside Priory School as a salutatorian in 2001 and he engaged in "normal" activities like basketball even when they endangered his hands. He went on to study at the University of Southern California.

In the years to come, Eigsti has been featured on Marian McPartland's award-winning NPR program "Piano Jazz" twice, has performed on many different television programs including several features on the BET Jazz Channel, and has recently made the cover of Jazziz magazine (November 2006)

After a few independent releases and an album called "Taylor's Dream" for DIW Japan, his national debut came in 2003 with Resonance on Bop City Records and he has followed that up with Lucky to Be Me on Concord Records in 2006. "Lucky to Be Me" features the likes of Christian McBride, Lewis Nash, James Genus, Billy Kilson, and Julian Lage, among others. Although still most known as a prodigy, Eigsti is beginning to transition beyond that label, recently nominated for two Grammy Awards - one for Best Instrumental Composition for his song "Argument" and for "Best Jazz Solo Performance" on "Freedom Jazz Dance".

External links

* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15240 All about Jazz interview with him and his mother]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:7mmtk6kxekrf~T1 All Music]
* [http://www.stanfordjazz.org Stanford Jazz Workshop]
* [http://www.woodsidepriory.com Woodside Priory School]