Welcome to KeyAction Summer/Fall 2001

Clavinova Jazzes Teen Phenom

Pianist Taylor Eigsti is only a senior in high school, but he's already creating quite a buzz on the jazz circuit. Since his first gig at eight years old, as opening act for Yamaha artist David Benoit, Eigsti has since opened for Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, and Al Jarreau; and played for former President Bill Clinton. He also has performed with the Red Holloway Quartet and played in several recent concerts with The Brubeck Brothers Quartet. Last spring, he released two CDs, The Taylor Eigsti Trio: Live at Filoli and Taylor's Dream. He relies on his Yamaha Clavinova CVP109 digital piano to help prepare for performances and to compose and arrange his music.

"It's excellent," Eigsti says. "I definitely love using the Clavinova, especially for song sequencing," a feature he demonstrated at the Winter 1999 NAMM show. "A lot of people use external sequencers, but the Clavinova's sequencer is really easy. I also use it in conjunction with my laptop to arrange and compose with music software. If I have an idea how an arrangement will sound, I can test it out extremely realistically, with all the instrument voices, before giving the piece to others to play." He's been using his CVP109 extensively to do just that while composing his first orchestral suite, which he hopes to complete in 2002.

"It's great for play-along type stuff, too," Eigsti adds, "and I have it right behind my acoustic piano so I can use it for piano type stuff. I write a lot of tunes in weird time signatures, so the Clavinova is also helpful for that. And, simple functions - like the metronome - come in really handy."

This summer, Eigsti performed with jazz legend Dave Brubeck at the Chicago Jazz Festival. "It was one of the coolest things I've ever done," exclaims the young pianist. "Dave used me on piano for four or five tunes with his octet. It's always an honor to play with him," Eigsti adds, "but this was especially thrilling. We played for about 35,000 people in the audience, and the concert was taped for syndicated jazz radio programs and the Jerry Lewis Telethon. I was a little nervous," he admits, laughing.

Eigsti enjoys what he calls "mixing and matching styles" with Benoit and Brubeck in concerts billed as Three Generations of Jazz Pianists, the most recent on September 20, 2001. To keep abreast of this talented young artist's recordings and performances, visit www.tayjazz.com.

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