Pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti has won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album twice: in 2022 for Tree Falls and in 2025 for Plot Armor. He has released nine albums as a bandleader and appeared on more than eighty others. His list of collaborators ranges from Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea and Joshua Redman to Esperanza Spalding and Sting, and he is a regular in the bands of Terence Blanchard, Kendrick Scott and Ben Wendel, among others. In 2024, Downbeat’s critics named him Rising Star pianist of the year.
On Plot Armor, Eigsti builds on the sound of Tree Falls with a broader palette. Electric jazz, hip hop rhythms and orchestral influences from Americana and fusion pop come together in stylishly arranged pieces. His experience with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic shines through in the string parts, inspired by the Turtle Island String Quartet, with whom he plays in Terence Blanchard’s E-Collective. The album also features vocalist Gretchen Parlato, guitarists Julian Lage and Charles Altura and saxophonist Ben Wendel, among others. Eigsti brings a quartet to our stage with cellist Marta Bagratuni, Alan Hampton on bass and Nate Wood on drums.
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