Eli Staples

Hey all, here's my (perhaps overly verbose) bio. I'm interested in studio work for pretty much anything. Let me know if you'd like to have me on your project!

Eli Staples has been playing keyboards professionally in the Washington area
for 15 years. He has performed extensively in jazz, R&B/hip-hop, rock, Afro-Cuban
and Brazilian genres. He has appeared in many of the major concert venues in the U.S.
including the Birchmere, the Kennedy Center, the Knitting Factory, and
Rockefeller Center, and has toured internationally through Central and South America and Africa.

Eli's abilities reach across many genres of music. He has performed with national jazz greats
such as Keter Betts (bassist with Ella Fitzgerald's classic rhythm section), vocalist Nneena Freelon, and trumpeter
Brian Lynch, as well as contemporary jazz artists Ken Navarro and Jaared.
In the R&B/hip-hop world, he has worked with vocalist Maysa Leak of Incognito, Alyson Williams,
and performed on the Today Show with Ashanti for the release of her second chart-topping album, "Chapter 2".
He is now a member of Mya's touring ensemble (more below). He has also recorded for internationally
known producer/DJ/performers Thievery Corporation.

Eli and his jazz trio have shared the stage at the new state-of-the-art Strathmore Music Center
with the National Symphony, and have several times been featured soloists with the National Chamber Singers
(now artists in residence at Washington's Strathmore Hall), performing
the music of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and
Stevie Wonder, among others. He was also a contributing choral
arranger on these projects.

He has recently finished a three year stint with The Nicki Gonzalez Band,
an ensemble performing original music drawing influences from rock, pop,
R&B, brazilian, Latin, and electronica. During that period he recorded the album
'Spilt Milk' with the band and received a WAMA award with them in 2001 for
Best Contemporary Jazz Group. His first project to follow, a cabaret jazz album
he recorded with vocalist Julie Keim titled, "Only Yesterday", was nominated for
three Grammy awards in 2004.

Among other projects, he is a member of Grammy-award winning and multi-platinum selling artist Mya's touring ensemble,
and will be starting their performance schedule in Jan 2006. He is also currently working as musical director for Ethiopian R&B vocalist Wayna (whose first single "So Long Heartache" has just been released from the new album, "Moments of Clarity" and is in rotation on 93.9 WKYS). He has recently formed a band with Gary Grainger (known internationally as the bassist of the great
John Scofield-Dennis Chambers trio) which began its performance schedule in mid 2005.