Eli Yamin is an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and singer. He is the co-founder, Managing and Artistic Director of The Jazz Drama Program, a non profit, 501(c)3 organization that builds more imaginative, diverse and compassionate communities through jazz arts and education. Eli has performed in New York at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center and the White House and on tour in over 20 countries as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State. He has been an organizer and proselytizer for jazz and youth for thirty years since beginning his career as a producer and on-air host on WBGO/Jazz 88 in Newark, New Jersey. Eli co-writes jazz musicals for young people with Clifford Carlson and has published NORA’s ARK, about breaking social dogma to address environmental crisis, HOLDING THE TORCH FOR LIBERTY, about the fight for women’s suffrage, and MESSAGE FROM SATURN, a space odyssey about the healing power of the blues. The musicals have been performed in four languages in five countries and 14 states in the U.S.

Eli Yamin’s Cd’s as a bandleader include YOU CAN’T BUY SWING with jazz quartet, I FEEL SO GLAD, with blues band and LOUIE’S DREAM, for our jazz heroes with New Orleans based clarinetist Evan Christopher. Eli is the founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Middle School Jazz Academy and led the program for ten years providing a groundbreaking model for youth, creativity and culture centered jazz education. Eli oversaw the expansion of the program from 13 students in one location to 75 on three campuses. He also filmed over 75 instructional videos for the online learning portal, The Jazz Academy, and co-authored a manual for teaching jazz to middle school students. He is working on a book with LaFrae Sci called SO YOU WANT TO SING THE BLUES, to be published in 2018 by Rowman and Littlefield in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Eli teaches courses in blues and jazz history and singing at Marymount College Manhattan. He was raised on the bandstand and mentored by jazz masters Walter Perkins, Barry Harris, Illinois Jacquet, Mercedes Ellington and Amiri Baraka. He holds a Bachelor’s in Music from Rutgers University, a Masters degree in music education from Lehman College, City University of New York and is a level III certified Somatic Voicework teacher. Eli lives in New York City with his wife, Lorraine and 11-year old daughter, Manika.

Here’s a clip from a recent concert at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City with Eli Yamin on piano, Evan Christopher, clarinet, Nicki Parrot, bass and LaFrae Sci, drums. The tune is “Baraka 75” by Eli Yamin and dedicated to Eli’s mentor, Amiri Baraka from the Eli Yamin CD release: LOUIE’S DREAM, available on www.cdbaby.com, www.eliyamin.com and www.itunes.com