TAYLOR EIGSTI

2022 GRAMMY WINNER - Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

"There is no false academic flash in Eigsti’s playing… it’s all heart" - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

“Eigsti exudes fearlessness and joy, secure in the belief that he can make music with anyone.” - Variety Magazine

CURRENT PROJECT

TREE FALLS

It’s often said that a debut album encapsulates the lifetime of experience leading up to its recording. Given all that Taylor Eigsti has done since the release of his last studio album, the pianist’s ambitious GRAMMY-nominated Tree Falls is practically his second debut. Released on May 21, 2021 by GSI in digital form, it marks the triumphant return of an artist who’s been both a global road warrior and a constant—and consistent—composer.

The 11 original compositions (a 12th, “Porch Break,” is a vinyl-only interlude) reflect his continued compositional pursuits including numerous long-form orchestral commissions in which he was a soloist starting in 2006. The album’s roster of musicians includes newer and longtime friends and collaborators.

Guitarist Charles Altura and electric bassist David “DJ” Ginyard are bandmates in trumpeter Terence Blanchard’s E-Collective, with whom Eigsti has become a permanent member. (He and Altura first played together at Stanford Jazz Workshop when Eigsti was 11.) And Tree Falls drummer Eric Harland, co-owner of the state-of-the-art GSI Studios at which it was recorded, has been both Eigsti’s trusted sideman and later bandleader since 2006.

BIO.

New York City-based pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti started playing the piano when he was four years old. Growing up in Menlo Park, CA, Eigsti was quickly labeled a prodigy, and has since released 8 albums as a bandleader, in addition to appearing on over 60 albums as a sideman. Eigsti has garnered 3 individual GRAMMY Award nominations over the years for his work as a recording artist and composer, including Best Instrumental Composition, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, and most recently received a 2022 GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his eighth album as a leader, released in May 2021, entitled “Tree Falls” (GSI Records). Eigsti has also been featured on several other GRAMMY-nominated albums, including co-writing a featured composition with Don Cheadle for the 2017 GRAMMY-winning soundtrack to the motion picture “Miles Ahead”.

Eigsti has performed, toured, or recorded with such luminaries as Dave Brubeck, Sting, Joshua Redman, Joshua Bell, Esperanza Spalding, Chris Botti, John Mayer, Vanessa Williams, Terence Blanchard, James Moody, Chris Potter, Nicholas Payton, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Snarky Puppy, Christian McBride, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gretchen Parlato, Julian Lage, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joe Lovano, Hank Jones, and Frederica Von Stade, among many others over the years.

Eigsti has travelled internationally quite extensively over the years both as a sideman and with his trio and quartet, performing at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Royal Festival Hall, Olympia Hall, Massey Hall, Lincoln Center, Davies Symphony Hall, Salle Pleyel, and many top festivals throughout the world throughout six continents.

'Eigsti has performed as a soloist with with many premiere symphony orchestras, including the New York Pops, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and many others. Eigsti has also composed a large repertoire of symphonic music for multiple collaborations with the Peninsula Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Bear Valley Chamber Orchestra, amongst others.

Eigsti has also been featured numerous times in various television specials, NPR appearances, commercials, and composed the theme music to the motion picture "Detachment" (2011) starring Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, collaborating on the score with the Newton Brothers. Eigsti was also featured on a television special with Chris Botti for PBS’s “Great Performances” and recently was featured on the score to Spike Lee’s HBO DocuSeries “NYC Epicenters”

• Tree Falls: 3 musicians

• Trio

• Quartet

• Solo Piano

TOUR DATES.