Interview - Taylor Eigsti

Don’t Blame It on His Youth:
Taylor Eigsti Takes Listeners on a Serious Musical Journey
© 2008, Andrea Canter

The mantle of “child prodigy” is not only heavy but often difficult to cast aside. Taylor Eigsti’s talent was apparent when he was a mere toddler, and the young pianist drew considerable attention from age 8 when he opened for David Benoit, shared the stage with Dianne Schuur at age 12, with Dave Brubeck at 13, released his first recording at 14 and joined the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at 15. Since, he has opened for Diana Krall, Al Jarreau and Hank Jones, appeared twice on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, graced the covers of Jazziz and Keyboard Magazine, landed in two consecutive DownBeat Critics Poll, and was the subject of a BET Jazz special. And his fifth recording and Concord debut, Lucky to Be Me (2006), not only featured a supporting team that included Christian McBride, Lewis Nash, James Genus, and Billy Kilson, it received two Grammy nominations as well (best instrumental composition and best instrumental jazz solo). On May 6th, he released his Concord follow-up, Let It Come To You. Now 23, Taylor hopes he’s finally proven himself worthy of both praise and criticism on the basis of his music, not his youth.

Taylor Eigsti (pronounced Ikes-Dee) has experienced more ups and downs than most young adults, both challenging and affirming events and encounters that have informed his music and his perspective on art and life. Growing up in Menlo Park, California, he was surrounded by a family committed to music. His mother had taken piano lessons as a child, his father played drums in high schools and in his own jazz trio. And his paternal grandmother taught piano lessons in Illinois. Taylor’s older sister Shannon started piano lessons at age four and developed a prodigious talent herself, leading her high school jazz band and appearing on a Doobie Brothers album (Cycles). But when Taylor was only three, Shannon’s life and promising career were cut short by cancer at 17, which would claim his father nine years later.

Although inspired by his sister’s talent, Taylor’s interest in piano seemed to be present from birth. Even as an infant and young toddler, he seemed particularly attracted to sounds in his environment. As a young child, recordings of such contemporary artists as Fatburger and David Benoit grabbed his attention. “Early on in my own musical journey, I was first drawn to the funky energy of contemporary jazz,” he recalls. Benoit in particular became an idol, and then mentor. “When I was a kid watching him play live, I was struck by how much fun he was having when he was playing. That energy really drew me in, and I knew that I had to have a career where I could have that much fun, too. When I was a bit older, I was exposed to more straight-ahead jazz, and that certainly made me expand my musical taste, and I started listening to as many greats of the music as possible.”

One of the strong influences that pulled Taylor toward straight-ahead jazz was his first encounter with the music of Art Tatum. “I was eventually more drawn to straight-ahead jazz, because I felt that kind of jazz allows the player a lot more freedom, and you can take a lot more risks. I feel that a lot of what gets called ‘smooth jazz’ is essentially ‘instrumental pop,’ a genre all its own which deserves its own respect and there are so many wonderful musicians who play and compose more in that genre. I feel that the mechanics of straight-ahead jazz, however, allow improvising musicians to be more adventurous harmonically, rhythmically, and melodically.”

Soon Taylor was digging into the repertoires of Oscar Peterson, Phineas Newborne, Gene Harris, and younger artists a mere generation removed from Taylor himself, like Benny Green and particularly Geoffrey Keezer, whom Taylor describes as “a perfect example of where jazz is going today. In my opinion, his sense of harmonic motion and voice-leading has as much logic and intrigue as the best of any era of classical music, and his amazing jazz background allows him the capability to express his ideas spontaneously and with a perfect sense of time. I feel that he not only has his own definitive sound on the instrument, but has his own complex system of chord-movement that is easily recognizable. He is also so stylistically versatile that he sounds great in a variety of different musical environments. There's so much to learn from when listening to Keezer, and I have definitely gone through nice long periods where I am saturated in picking apart his music - I feel it's kind of like studying a great author.”

Studies in Jazz and More
Early in his music studies, Taylor received instruction in jazz; he took classical lessons weekly through high school as well. “I was very privileged to start working with an amazing classical teacher, Cole Dalton, when I was about 12,” says Taylor, “and he really made me invest in developing a technique that would give me a lot of options. While he was teaching me classical technique, he taught it in such a way that could apply to improvising easily - not the most conventional approach. That benefited me greatly, and I now pass along a similar technique in my teachings as well. He also opened me up to so many great classical composers, and provided me with a world of musical information.”

At about the same time, young Eigsti became a student at the famed Stanford Jazz Workshop. His talent was such that, within a few years, he was invited to join the Stanford faculty. But despite his obvious talent, Taylor recalled in an All About Jazz interview that he was not pushed to go any farther than he wanted to, that his parents “wouldn't have made me take lessons if my heart wasn't in it…I think if you have too much of the crazy prodigy stuff, that's just asking for a shutdown later on. I've had a nice, gradual incline of exposure, and I've enjoyed it that way.”

A seemingly natural progression for a talented young musician is college studies in a school of music, such as the program at the University of Southern California. Taylor notes that “at USC, I felt that there were some amazing, virtuosic teachers and students that I could learn from, and I was being inspired by different people every day. I'm very grateful for all of the opportunities USC afforded me.” But after three semesters, Taylor had come to believe “that the current structure of music education in colleges is extremely flawed, and I'm hoping at some point in my life to be a part of a movement to get people to look at music education a bit differently, and to hopefully help create a new system designed around the student. In my opinion from my own personal experience, I feel that colleges should be less concerned with the traditional logistical structure of concrete ‘requirements’ and ‘credits,’ which de-personalize the whole college experience and put unnecessary limitations on the students in many aspects. I've always been in favor of a curriculum that is more closely designed around each individual student. For instance, many students have to take multiple years of "filler" classes, just so that in Year Three they can finally study what they came there for!”

And as he told All About Jazz, “Jazz musicians have to take all these classical classes where they teach you rules, but they don't tell you that these rules applied in the 1700s, and really don't now. But classical musicians don't have to take one class in improvisation. I think that's a load of baloney.” In fact, says Taylor, “Composition is a class that should be taught first, and not last. Often times, I teach improvisation through the lens of composition, and I feel that that is the most important thing you can learn as a developing musician. Also, I have always felt there should be more integration and creative combinations between the different departments - science, jazz, classical, art, politics, etc. Imagine the possibilities there - I've probably learned more from non-jazz musicians than anyone.”

And if you ask Taylor about his current listening habits, he’s quick to identify jazz and non-jazz influences. “I am mostly listening to music outside of jazz nowadays, but I'm still trying to find a balance of listening to a wide range of jazz records, mostly ones I haven't checked out before. A typical day of listening for me might include something like an old Lee Konitz record and maybe some Joni Mitchell that I've listened to many, many times. Or on another day, it might be some Steve Reich or modern classical music, and some Brad Mehldau or another progressive jazz artist. It really changes everyday.”

Serious Music – Not a “Fallback Plan”
Now Taylor Eigsti is six recordings into a career he sees as fueled as much by pain as joy. “You get a lot of experience through pain,” he told All About Jazz. “Because of what I've experienced, I think I have a lot of emotional ability to bring to the musical table. I want people to be able to see that, that it's not just child's play.” And at whatever age his career is considered, Taylor Eigsti has made it clear that his music is a serious business.

One need look no farther than his sixth recording, Let It Come To You, which follows Taylor’s highly successful Concord debut, Lucky To Be Me. As the title suggestions, the original compositions, including the title track and the three-tune suite, “Fallback Plan,” reflect the pianist’s personal experiences and recognition that we can’t control everything in our lives, that opportunities can present themselves unexpectedly. “The main point I am trying to express on this album is that I have found that life is what happens when you are planning something else!” he says in his liner notes. “The best things in life, and also the worst things, often come unexpectedly, without any prior knowledge or control over the outcome… In my opinion, life is a ‘Fallback Plan’ for whatever else we were planning…. I feel that this is a very personal record, since I have begun to understand myself as a person a lot more, and I think that is always revealed within the music one creates.”

Let It Come To You is Taylor’s most adventurous recording to date, one reflecting not only his straight-ahead influences but also bringing to the fore some of his earliest attractions to the more funky, energetic grooves of contemporary music as well as the classical forms he studied and practiced throughout his school years. “In my development as a musician, I like to try to learn from being as adventurous and open-minded musically as possible. I would call the style that I gravitate towards nowadays a combination of many different influences....my goal is to try to combine the fun, energetic interplay found in a lot of contemporary jazz with the sense of exploration of straight-ahead jazz. With my compositions, I am attempting to incorporate more modern classical harmony to try to create a unique infusion of music that has unpredictable, emotional harmony and a strongly-imbedded rhythmic drive.”

Eleven tracks show the diversity of Taylor Eigsti as both arranger and composer, as well as allowing his eclectic chops to shine. The covers include nonstandard interpretations of Cole Porter (“I Love You,)” Tizol/Ellington (“Caravan”), Jobim (“Portrait in Black and White”), and even the Eels (“Not Ready Yet”); reconfigurations of Wayne Shorter (“Deluge”) and Pat Metheny (“Timeline”); and an inside-out reconstruction of Peggy Lee’s most famous hit (“Fever”). In addition to the closing three-part “Fallback Plan Suite” (“Less Free Will,” “Not Lost Yet,” and “Brick Steps”), Eigsti contributes the original title track. The recording’s sequence seems to follow Taylor’s musical evolution, extending beyond the comfort zone of straight-ahead and into some not-so-straight mixing wizardry. Notes Taylor, “there is a lot of straight-ahead jazz that kind of leads up to my own compositions at the end of the record. We decided to sequence it that way because that is how I might design a live set of the same music.”

The sequencing of the tracks is not the only suggestion of a change in Eigsti’s musical direction. “One rather different texture that we used was a track of piano playing fast repeated chords in the background, faded way back in the mix, so that it sounds like a piano-flavored echo behind the melody,” explains Taylor. “I called this texture ‘rhythm piano’ because it reminded me of the role of a rhythm guitarist in a rock band behind the lead guitar. Much of this music is much harder to play live in the same way because of that, so to some degree the live shows are altered so that they would fit a quartet better. It would be weird and difficult to ask a couple pianists to play on my gigs, but to play really loudly with the volume turned down, just to back me up! When it's an overdub of myself, then I don't have to worry about wasting another good piano player's time by giving them a boring role.”

The studio gave Taylor some opportunities not possible on the live stage. “Within a studio, you have a little more room for recording layers,” he said, “and we wanted to have some fun with that. By the time we started to mix the record, it felt like we were mixing a whole orchestra because there were so many parts! I really enjoyed the freedom in this, and I hope that people will enjoy the different textures! I'm really excited to go more in this direction in the future, because I really, really feel like myself when I'm playing my own compositions, and I have a lot more ideas for future projects. Hopefully I will get a chance to release more music like this in the future.”

Is there anyone in particular with whom Taylor would like to play or record? “Maybe Bjork or Wayne Shorter.....really I will jump at the chance to collaborate with most anyone, because I feel like sometimes the best musical combinations can come by random chance, and there are so many people I admire, so I'm open to just about anything!”

To date, Taylor Eigsti has explored “just about anything” within the typical piano tuning, but he has his ear on expanding that palette beyond the traditional 12-note scale. “I think that there is so much incredible emotion that can come from a 12+ note octave. One great example is the incredible Bulgarian Women’s Choirs. I've heard a few different choirs, and all of them are completely amazing, with superhuman control over their voice. Some of the most heart-wrenching moments found in music can come from semi-tones. The world is so much bigger than our 12-note tempered tuning system, and so many cultures all over the world have been using other more natural harmonic maps for hundreds of years. I admire people within our culture that try to play in different tuning systems. Two pianists in particular are Terry Riley and Michael Harrison. I don't know exactly where this type of experimentation will present itself in my own musical journey, but hopefully at some point I can try to open up my music to those kinds of possibilities. It’s hard enough just to get good music out of 12 notes!”

That Taylor Eigsti will be a creative force in jazz piano for decades to come seems indisputable, even without the predicted success of his latest release. Perhaps because his jazz and classical skills evolved more or less simultaneously, and only after an early attraction to smooth jazz, Taylor seems to readily meld his influences, effectively weaving basic components of each through his individual approach to composition and improvisation. Fluid improvisation is at the core of each arrangement, each original work; harmonies are luxurious, rhythms sure and at times playful and downright funky. Let It Come To You shows us that early promise has evolved into mature technique and imagination. This is not a prodigy at work, but an adult talent to be admired, discussed, even criticized as a leading voice. Nothing would please Taylor more.

“To a large degree, categorization and labeling of my music is somewhat out of my hands,” he says. “One of the biggest realizations I have ever had is that I also have practically no control over how people see me as a musician. I have been ‘young’ my whole life, so there has never been a novelty to me associated with that, as I have no other point of reference. I am really just trying to work hard and develop some emotional music that is fun and intriguing to listen to, and if it somehow adds to the experience for a listener to know that I am 23, then that's fine with me. But if someone dislikes my music, I would prefer that they not chalk it up to ‘age,’ and rather judge me on what I am offering within the music alone. I say that because I would want the same respect if I create something that people like. I am going to be developing, learning, and growing older throughout my whole life, and I would never say that all of a sudden I'm at the age where I should be taken seriously, because I always took the music seriously myself. All I can hope for is the opportunity to continue to have an open mind, and to try to take listeners on a journey that affects them in a positive way.”

Listeners can take that journey now with Let It Come to You…..and all that is sure to follow.

Click here for a review of Let It Come to You. Unless otherwise noted, quotes from JazzINK interview with Taylor Eigsti in April 2008. Some parts of this article are adapted from the CD review. Visit Taylor’s website for tour schedule and more at www.tayjazz.com