Pianist/Keyboardist Eli Brueggemann is one of Los Angeles' most prominent young musicians. At 28 years of age, Eli has already recorded and performed with an array of distinguished artists spanning the world of Jazz, Latin, and Pop including Carlos Santana, Men At Work front man Colin Hay, Mandrill, Barbara Morrison, Louie Bellson, and 'queen of salsoul' Cecilia Noel. A commanding Jazz pianist and sensitive interpreter of standards, Eli has shared the stage with Jazz greats Roy Hargrove, Bill Watrous, John Clayton and many more. Born in Los Angeles, Eli began studying classical piano at age 7, and continues to perform classical music to this day. In September, 2004, he was a featured artist at the Hollywood Bowl in a performance of Schumann's E flat Piano Quartet. While at Marshall High School in Silverlake, he began studying Jazz Piano with Joyce Collins, and under her guidance, was a perennial semi-finalist in the Music Center Spotlight Awards, and won the coveted Herb Alpert Scholarship. He then attended UC Berkeley, and received a B.A. in English Literature while studying jazz piano with Dick Whittington at the famed Maybeck Recital Hall. The summer after graduating, Eli was accepted into the 1998 Henry Mancini Institute fellowship program, where he worked and recorded with world renowned artists/composers such as David Raksin, Vince Mendoza, and the Turtle Island String Quartet. That same year,Eli was honored with the L.A. Jazz Society Shelly Manne New Talent Award. He then went on to study with Bill Cunliffe, Shely Berg, and Alan Pasqua at the USC Thornton School of Music, receiving a Master's Degree in Jazz Piano in 2002. Shortly thereafter, he co-composed the score to Langston Hughes' epic poem Twelve Moods for Jazz in collaboration with trumpeter Ron McCurdy, and videographer/documentarist e.g. Bailey. This grant-funded project, which was recently expanded to a Jazz Quintet with Orchestra, has played at major jazz festivals around the U.S. and has garnered acclaim from critics. As a composer, Eli has written scores for History Chanel and HBO documentaries as well as several short films. Currently, Eli co-leads and writes for the afro-latin-soul band, SalsaSoup, which has sold over 1000 cd's in the US and Japan in a little over a year. He works frequently as a side man, and studio musician on a variety of projects. His jazz playing can be heard on Brian Tyler's score for Robin Wiliiams' upcoming feature film "In the Cut." His first Jazz album as a leader, "Launchpad" (Amasound Entertainment), features Eli's original compositions. His style is one of forward thinking vocabulary rooted in the tradition of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Along with bassist Dan Lutz (James Carney, Shely Berg, Gerald Clayton), drummer Lorca Hart (Freddie Hubbard, Ralph Moore, John Hird) and Dantai Lopez (Celia Cruz, Salsa Soup), the band traverses many different grooves and feelings, from bluesy ballad to New Orleans groove, from hard swinging stride to cha-cha, the whole time retaining Eli's signature sound and personality.