“Eli reminds me of Pete Seeger. He’s a musician playing for a better world. Eli doesn’t just play for you. He wants the essence of his jazz to infiltrate your community.” Becca Pulliam, Executive Producer, National Public Radio.

Eli co-founded and now directs Jazz Power Initiative, the uptown NYC based non-profit organization dedicated to transforming lives through jazz arts education and performance. His three youth-centered musicals have been performed internationally and across the U.S. including Message From Saturn, about the healing power of the blues, presented with Summerfest/Jazzmobile in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem in July 2021. Eli holds a Masters in Music Education from Lehman College, City University of New York, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook, State University of New York.

A Steinway artist, Eli Yamin has performed with his quartet blues band as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State in Russia, Guatemala, Mali, India, China, Brazil and Chile, among others. He has performed at Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and The Newport Jazz Festival. He has also appeared several times at the Obama White House including participating in the first-ever White House Jazz Studio.