Two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning NYC-based pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti began playing the piano at age four. Growing up in Menlo Park, CA, Eigsti was quickly labeled a prodigy and has since released 9 albums as a bandleader, in addition to appearing on over 80 albums as a sideman.
In February 2025, Eigsti won his second GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his ninth and most recent album, Plot Armor (2024, GroundUP Music), following a 2022 win for his eighth album, Tree Falls (2021, GSI Records), in the same category.
Eigsti has garnered a total of 4 individual GRAMMY® nominations over the years for his work as a recording artist and composer, including Best Instrumental Composition and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, in addition to being featured on several other GRAMMY® nominated albums by Gretchen Parlato and Julian Lage, and co-wrote a featured composition with Don Cheadle for the GRAMMY® – winning soundtrack to the motion picture Miles Ahead (2017). Recently, Eigsti won Downbeat Magazine’s 72nd Annual Critic’s Poll for Rising Star “Pianist of the Year” for 2024.
Over the past 30+ years, Eigsti has had the good fortune of performing, touring or recording with such luminaries as Dave Brubeck, Joshua Redman, Sting, John Mayer, Esperanza Spalding, Chick Corea, Joshua Bell, Snarky Puppy, Vanessa Williams, Kenny Garrett, David Benoit, Chris Potter, Kenny Garrett, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, Michael Nesmith, Marian McPartland, Stefon Harris, McCoy Tyner, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Vince Mendoza, Joey DeFrancesco, Red Holloway, James Moody, Lalah Hathaway, Ernestine Anderson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Becca Stevens, Casey Abrams, Tarionna “Tank” Ball, Christian McBride, Charles McPherson, Cory Wong, The Clayton Brothers, Lizz Wright, Eldar, Dianne Schuur, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, Ambrose Akinmusire, Hank Jones, Cory Wong, The Brubeck Brothers, and Frederica Von Stade, in addition to frequent touring collaborations with Ms. Lisa Fischer, Terence Blanchard, Chris Botti, Julian Lage, Kendrick Scott, Ben Wendel, Erin Bode, Sachal Vasandani, Eric Harland, and Gretchen Parlato, amongst numerous others.
Eigsti has had the honor to tour internationally for many years, having the opportunity to perform at many premiere venues throughout the world, including the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Salle Pleyel, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Royal Festival Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Olympia Hall, Massey Hall, Lincoln Center, Davies Symphony Hall, and many top festivals including Montreal Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Singapore Mosaic Music Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Quito Jazz Festival, Jakarta Jazz Festival, Sydney Jazz Festival, Manilla Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and many more performances worldwide, including a private performance for former President Bill Clinton.
Eigsti has also appeared numerous times in television specials, NPR programs, and commercials, and composed the theme music for the motion picture Detachment (2011), starring Oscar Award winner Adrien Brody, collaborating on the score with the Newton Brothers. In 2019, Eigsti also appeared on a television special with Chris Botti for PBS’s Great Performances and was recently featured on the score for Spike Lee’s HBO 4-part DocuSeries NYC Epicenters (2021).
In addition to leading and performing with various small ensembles, Eigsti has frequently had the opportunity to work with, compose for, and orchestrate music for various symphony orchestras, and has written an extensive repertoire for orchestra and jazz ensemble. Various soloist and compositional features include the San José Chamber Orchestra, Oakland Symphony, New York Philharmonic, New York Pops, LA Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Buffalo Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Portland Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Boston Youth Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, San Jose Youth Symphony, Golden State Youth Orchestra, Bear Valley Symphony, Tassajara Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, and multiple featured collaborations with the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra.
In March 2022, Eigsti premiered Imagine Our Future in the Bay Area, a large-ensemble work commissioned by the Hewlett Foundation, featuring Lisa Fischer on vocals and a 12-person band, which compositionally “crowd-sources” over 100 submitted musical and multimedia ideas from a cross-section of youth from Northern California.