Taylor Eigsti Earns GRAMMY® Nomination for Plot Armor (GroundUP Music)
’Plot Armor’ has been nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 67th GRAMMY® Awards
Listen to Plot Armor here!
“Blurring the lines between classical, jazz, and even a few hints of pop, Eigsti delivers a sumptuous offering, punctuated with heartfelt emotion on several tracks.” – Glide Magazine
“The beauty of Taylor Eigsti’s compositions draws from both classical culture and his love of jazz, with compositions featuring complex architecture and arrangements imbued with a cinematic lightness.” – Paris Move
“There are elements of classical, pop, and even a hint or two of gospel in this recording, which isn’t so much a checklist of genres as it is a gorgeously executed sound.” – Toledo Blade
New York, NY – Pianist, composer, and visionary Taylor Eigsti has earned his fourth career GRAMMY® nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his wide-ranging new work, Plot Armor.
This latest GRAMMY® nomination follows his win in 2022 in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category for his celebrated release Tree Falls. Known for his ability to merge technical virtuosity with heartfelt storytelling, Eigsti continues to build his brilliance with a fresh, boundary-pushing approach.
The 67th GRAMMY® Awards will take place on February 2, 2025.
“It’s a huge honor to receive this nomination for ‘Plot Armor’ and I’m deeply grateful for the support this album has received! This project represents a whole year of love, effort, and evolution by a gigantic cast of brilliant musicians who created this special series of musical adventures as a shared vision,” Taylor stated. “Thank you also to so many of my frequent bandleaders who appeared as featured guests like Lisa Fischer, Gretchen Parlato, Becca Stevens, Ben Wendel, Terence Blanchard, and so many more. I can’t wait to celebrate this year’s music together with my fellow nominees and friends in LA in February!”
His ninth album and GroundUP Music label debut, Plot Armor boast twin masters in each instrumental slot—featured guest (vocalist Lisa Fischer, trumpeter Terence Blanchard); vocals (Gretchen Parlato, Becca Stevens); saxophone (Ben Wendel, Dayna Stephens); guitar (Charles Altura, fellow GRAMMY® nominee Julian Lage); keyboards/piano (Maya Kronfeld, the man himself); bass (David “DJ” Ginyard, Harish Raghavan); drums (Oscar Seaton, Jr., Kendrick Scott), plus many appearances by a layered string section (Stephanie Yu, Corinne Sobolewski, Mia Barcia-Colombo, Jules Levy).
“I wanted to build the whole record around two concepts: One was using the bands that I’m playing with frequently—Oscar and DJ and Charles and Maya,” Eigsti says. “And I also wanted more than one representative of every instrument on this record. It’s been a huge source of joy to play with Harish, Kendrick, and Julian over the years, and I’m so happy they were able to join us on this project.”
Plot Armor continues Eigsti’s winning approach of showcasing eleven of his original compositions plus a standard. With ace string arrangements by Andrew Balogh, its orchestral lushness showcases Eigsti’s compositional prowess and his experiences sharing the bandstand with the Turtle Island String Quartet as a member of Blanchard’s E-Collective band (along with Altura, Ginyard, and Seaton).
Plot Armor has received critical acclaim, with outlets such as Glide Magazine praising it as a ‘sumptuous offering’, and Jazzwise proclaiming it as “stylishly yet organically arranged and produced.”
Taylor Eigsti is proud to celebrate this nomination in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category alongside Béla Fleck, Bill Frisell, Mark Guiliana, and Julian Lage.