Dr. Eli receives 2024 AATS Award

I am honored to receive the American Academy of Teachers of Singing 2024 AATS Award. The award comes “in recognition of your leadership and excellence in youth jazz education.” Thank you to my teachers and colleagues for teaching me about singing, the way the voice works and the essential African American cultural roots of jazz […]

Eli Yamin Blues Band CD Release Concert Monday, June 20 at 8pm at Lincoln Center. Information and tickets.

The Eli Yamin Blues Band returns to the Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center Institute to perform a homecoming concert in celebration of their new release, I Feel So Glad. This is no ordinary blues band,” former Living Blues magazine editor Scott Barretta declares in his liner notes to I Feel So Glad, the debut […]

A Healing Song, AVAILABLE NOW as single

In anticipation of our new CD with The Eli Yamin Blues Band, “I Feel So Glad,”  we just released a single from the album: A Healing Song by Eli Yamin and Clifford Carlson This song is a message to the world about the healing power of the blues. It’s great to groove to and sing […]

Remembering Santiago

I just found this video online from our visit to Balmaceda, a community music school in downtown Santiago.  Can you believe they have a blues harmonica class that meets every week?  Just fantastic.  When I went to Mississippi a few months after visiting Chile, I was telling teachers from the Delta about it.  I was […]

Santiago, Chile

Why do I LOVE the blues so much? It’s the universal language of the heart. It brings people together and makes them happy. It’s full of passion, spirit, harmony, melody and rhythm.  So much RHYTHM! We spent the final week of the tour giving workshops and concerts in Santiago and around Santiago.  What a gas […]

Iquique, Chile

After our show in Curico, we headed North to Iquique, Chile.  Our concert was on the in front of the Municipal Theatre in Hemicicio Plaza, Central Square.  It was organized by the great jazz and blues enthusiast, Alvaro Gomez. We met many eager young musicians after the show and of course, invited them to an […]

Talca, Chile

We arrived here Wednesday and saw many devastated buildings.  The only place the concert could be held was in an art gallery.  The gallery was gorgeous, decked out with super-fine works of art both modern and classic.  Again, Chileans blew us away with their resilience.  Life is incredibly vibrant here.  And the will of the […]

Chillan, Chile

Arrived in Chile last Saturday.  Had a day to visit Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago then headed South to the area hardest hit by the Earthquake in late February.  We have been blown away by the warmth of the people down here.  Chileans LOVE the BLUES!

Fortaleza, Brazil

What a piano!  It’s amazing how the possibilities open with a fine Steinway instrument at my fingertips.  We opened the concert with our new arrangement of the spiritual, “Trouble of the World.”  After hearing this arrangement, one person observed, “Now I know where John Coltrane and those guys were coming from!”  It’s true, African American […]

American Bi-National Center

Last night was an amazing experience.  We performed for students, diplomats and friends of the American Bi-National Center in Recife.  This is a place that teaches classes in English.  Of course, we saw it as the perfect opportunity to invite the Maracatou kids from Corpos Percussivos.  We were so knocked out to perform two songs […]