Taylor Eigsti

Lucky To Be Me

Concord Jazz

        Taylor Eigsti is keeping his fingers crossed on both hands in the hopes of taking home double Grammy gold at the 49th Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb.11 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The 22-year-old jazz pianist has been nominated in two categories: Best Instrumental Composition and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Eigsti will face some stiff competition in both categories. His composition, Argument, heads up the nominees for Best Instrumental Composition. Other vying for the coveted trophy include label mate Patrick Williams for A Concert In Swing from the CD, Elevation (with The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra & Big Band - Concord Jazz); a pair from John Williams: A Prayer For Peace from Munich - Soundtrack (Decca Records), and Sayuri's Theme And End Credits from Memoirs Of A Geisha — Soundtrack (Sony Classical). (See 2007 Grammy Nominations)

Eigsti's Freedom Jazz Dance has been give a Grammy nod for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Other competitors in that same category include saxophonist Michael Brecker, an 11-time Grammy Award winner, who passed away January 13 from leukemia at age 57, on the tune, Some Skunk Funk (Some Skunk Funk with Randy Brecker - Telarc Jazz);. reedman Paquito D'Rivera on Paq Man from the CD, From The Heart (Hilario Duran And His Latin Jazz Big Band - Alma Records); drummer Roy Haynes on Hippidy Hop from Whereas - Dreyfus Jazz); and saxophonist Branford Marsalis on Hope from Braggtown - Marsalis Music/Rounder). (See 2007 Grammy Nominations)

In the twelve-track Lucky To Be Me, Eigsti expands his stylistic palette with jazz standards and four originals, encompassing funk, hip-hop, free feels, and swing, thus giving the project a very progressive jazz sound.

On Lucky to Be Me, Eigsti surrounds himself with two world-class rhythm teams: bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash on six songs, and bassist James Genus and drummer Billy Kilson on another four. Seventeen-year-old jazz guitar sensation Julian Lage, who is Eigsti’s close friend and collaborator, guests on several tracks. 

The Eigsti-McBride-Nash unit embodies the spirit of creative play on John Coltrane's Giant Steps, the set opener, which features the pianist zipping into a lucid, jet-fueled solo, followed by one of equal velocity by McBride. 

The joyful interplay and interaction between the musicians is evident in Get Your Hopes Up (an Eigsti original), which showcases the powerful unit of McBride and Nash, and the playful exchange of ideas between Eigsti and Lage. McBride and Nash next modulate seamlessly between funk and swing beats on Cole Porter's Love for Sale.

A powerful and stately bass solo by McBride introduces Promenade (also known as the first movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition), on which Eigsti acknowledges his classical training.  McBride uncorks another killer solo as an early interlude on Eigsti’s Adventure 1, a tune that simmers to the crisp pulse of Nash’s hi-hat cymbal that resolves into a dark little groove and climaxes with an impassioned piano solo by the leader.

Working with the Genus-Kilson rhythm team, the pianist then unleashes his narrative imagination on I’ve Seen It All, Björk’s song from the 2000 movie Dancer in the Dark, in which she starred. Kilson presents a similar blend of finesse and extraordinary power on Argument, Eigsti’s musical take on the general slope of a typical “argument.” 

The expressive and lilting ballad, True Colors, was co-written by the pianist and his friend, Lage. The duet between piano and guitar is reflective of the deep sensitivity of both musicians.  These two young artists team together again on to bring an element of funkiness to the album on what was originally recorded as the theme song to The Sopranos (HBO), Woke Up This Morning. 

The pianist’s treatment of the Jimmy Van Heusen standard, Darn That Dream, further testifies to his ability to channel primal emotions while telling a musical story, weaving a dark tale through Kilson’s responsive drumming and Genus’s adventurous bass lines, which also form a fast-moving foundation underneath Eigsti’s thunderous solo on Eddie Harris’s explosive jazz standard, Freedom Jazz Dance.

The title track, written by Leonard Bernstein, is reflective of Eigsti's amazing ability as a world-class musician. 

- Stephen Fratallone/Jazz Connection Magazine with assistance from Concord Records

Rating:  ****

*****