"Eldar's talent is undeniable; he possesses remarkable ease in his technical fluency, coupled with a free-flowing sense of harmonic coloration." --Benny Green

Photo by Andrea Canter

The Young Pianist

First taking up piano at age three, by five it was clear that Eldar could play anything he heard, note for note. Surrounded by music in his native Kyrgyzstan (formerly part of the Soviet Union)—his father a jazz fan, his mother a musicologist—Eldar became seriously interested in jazz at age nine when he played his first jazz festival. At 11 he caught the ear of Dr. Billy Taylor who invited the boy to appear on CBS Sunday Morning. By age 12, he was spending summers at Interlochen, playing in the high school jazz band well before he could attend high school. With his family, Eldar emigrated to the U.S. in 1998, settling in Kansas City. Since then he has won the top prize in the 2001 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and the 2002 Peter Nero Piano Competition; in 2004, he was selected to play at the gala opening of Rose Hall at Lincoln Center. Marian McPartland hosted Eldar as her youngest guest ever on her legendary radio show, Piano Jazz, and later invited him to perform during her concert series at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. After hearing Eldar play, jazz great Benny Carter said, "He's one of the most outstanding artists I've heard in a long, long time." Noted Billy Taylor, "…Eldar Djangirov's playing shows brilliancy, complexity, and discipline… he's serious about his music, he's thoughtful about what he does and he's a regular kid."

Eldar—The Recording

Earlier this year, Eldar released his self-titled debut recording with veterans John Patitucci, Todd Strait, and Michael Brecker. Playing acoustic piano and synthesizers, Eldar covers a range of classic jazz compositions and introduces four originals, seeming to blend the touch of Bill Evans, the power and swing of Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, and the invention of Herbie Hancock with “vigor, stylistic range and dazzling speed” (New York Times).

Photo by Andrea Canter

Eldar opens his recorded set with “Sweet Georgia Brown,” and you have to have incredible confidence at 18 (or any age) to pull off such a swinging, speeding rendition of Oscar Peterson’s signature tune. And in Eldar’s hands, it burns; he clearly articulates each note at blazing speed, conjuring Art Tatum’s ghost. Eldar follows with “Nature Boy,” with Patitucci’s mournful soulful bass solo introducing melody. With elegant lyricism, Eldar shows he is not all speed and power, as he suppresses dynamics and techno displays in favor of ballad tempo and sweet rhapsody, European classicism touched by all-American blues. Drummer Todd Strait adds sheets of cymbal magic.

On Bobby Timmons’ classic, “Moanin,’” the blues are up front with Eldar’s introductory basslines underlying a fillagreed cadenza from the right hand. “Point of View” is a bright original composition that showcases Michael Brecker’s virtuosic, fleet traversing of the tenor from top to bottom, achieved without falling into a truly honking vamp. Eldar displays some wonderfully twisting piano work, as if Tatum had been reborn as a 21^st century postbop magician. “Raindrops” is a beautiful, lyrical, tinkling original. With the pianist’s basslines setting up the melody, at times Eldar seems to be playing with two left hands.

Eldar includes two solo tracks. His own “Lady Wicks” is richly textured, Chopinesque as much as Evanescent, filled with harp-like iridescent trills. Bolder perhaps is the inclusion of Monk’s standard, “Ask Me Now,” which the pianist recreates as a bluesy, striding delight. It’s far more Tatum than Monk, but the basic melody is always there and Monk would likely have approved of the experimentation if not the rhythm.

Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” features a dense solo introduction, while Monk’s “Round About Midnight” is highlighted by Patitucci’s basslines and delicate piano passages. A further salute to Hancock is Eldar’s own “Watermelon Island,” full of rich bass figures from the piano keyboard and electric bass. Here, Eldar’s creative imagination goes beyond melody to complex harmonies and interactive lines. The recording closes with the ever-popular “Fly Me to the Moon.” Lightly touched and delicately turned creations embellish the familiar melody from the outset. Instead of simply swinging, it spirals and builds to a more majestic climax, only to fall gently into an elegant deconstruction zone that quickly and quietly resolves.

It’s an auspicious beginning.

“He is truly a virtuosic musical prodigy." --Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times, 2001

On November 17, Eldar will perform in the Terrace Gallery of Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, 7:30 pm (www.kennedy-center.org). The next night he is in Storrs, CT at the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts, 8 pm, as part of the Jazz Dog Café Series ( www.jorgensen.ct-arts.com). Eldar plays two sets at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis on November 20, 7 and 9 pm; earlier in the afternoon at the Dakota (from 3-4 pm), he will play and talk as part of the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education "J-Train" series. (www.dakotacooks.com). He’ll be in Seattle at Jazz Alley December 20-23 (www.jazzalley.com).