Jazz Piano Lessons with Eli

I help teens and adults learn to play jazz piano with confidence, clarity, and real musical freedom. I’m a jazz pianist, composer, and music director currently based in Los Angeles, with years of experience performing, music-directing, and teaching at a professional level. I’m a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Jazz Studies program, continued my studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and was recently accepted into the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop — one of the nation’s premier programs for emerging theatre composers. I currently serve as the music director and pianist for An Evening with Eartha Kitt: Live Tribute, starring Broadway actress Thomasina Gross. I specialize in helping teen and adult learners who want to finally understand jazz harmony, improvise without fear, play creatively across styles, and feel confident at the piano — whether you’re starting fresh, returning after a long break, or looking to deepen your musical understanding. My approach is structured, intuitive, and musical — not a collection of disconnected scales or theory drills. Together, we build your skills through six essential pillars: -Technique and ease at the instrument -Chord–scale fluency and melodic development -Rhythmic feel and groove -Jazz harmony and voicings (from the ground up) -Ear training using the Solfege system and other relative pitch modalities -Applying everything to repertoire you enjoy, both in and outside of jazz Each lesson connects directly to the next, so you’re not just learning information — you’re building a voice. You’ll learn to improvise melodies, create rich harmonies, understand rhythmic phrasing, and play comfortably both solo and with others. Students often tell me they appreciate my clarity, patience, and ability to break down complex ideas into simple concepts that immediately improve their playing. My goal is to make each lesson engaging, encouraging, and tailored to your goals — whether that’s playing jazz standards beautifully, understanding chords and voicings, improvising freely, or developing a lasting creative practice. If you want to learn piano in a way that feels inspiring, structured, and genuinely musical, I’d love to help you get there.