The Eli Maliwan Trio consists of Eli on Tenor Saxophone, Curtis Aikens on Upright Bass, and Kai Lyons on Electric Guitar. These three musicians and friends have played together in various projects and in different combinations over the years and their deep musical communication has developed into a unique and personal sound. The trio will be performing jazz standards.

Kai Lyons has played with Big Chief Donald Harrison, drummer Mike Clark from Herbie Hancock Headhunters, organist Will Blades, and pianist Larry vuckovich. Studied jazz with Mulgrew Miller, Harold Mabern, Vincent Herring, Rich Perry, and Gene Bertoncini at William Paterson University outside of New York City. He frequently travels to Cuba, New Orleans, New York City, and Brazil, and has studied music in Ghana Africa

Bassist and Composer Curtis Aikens is a versatile musician who has worked in a variety of settings including theater pits, orchestras, folk, rock and hip hop bands, but jazz is his passion. He began his studies of jazz in middle school with the late Mel Martin at the age of 12, and continued his education at The Idyllwild Arts Academy where, in addition to jazz, he studied classical bass and composition, with continued composition studies at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Curtis performs all over the Bay Area and the world as a freelance musician, and is a member of the bands Sueños, and Tohkay. Curtis is also an in demand educator; he is currently a rhythm section coach at Berkeley high school and has a studio of private bass students.

Eli Maliwan is honored to have played at several prestigious jazz festivals such as Uberjazz in Hamburg Germany opening for the Sun Ra Arkestra, Portland Jazz Festival in Oregon, SF Jazz in CA, Bric Jazz Festival in NY, Winter Jazzfest in NY, as well as several dates with Salami Rose Joe Louis Quartet opening on Flying Lotus’s 2019 tour, and other notable shows with various projects. Eli has had the honor of performing with Jimmy Heath, Steve Turre, James Moody, Slide Hampton, and Alphonso Johnson. He has both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Jazz Performance and has been mentored by Anton Schwartz, Gary Bartz, Darrell Grant, Alan Jones, and Paul Novros. Eli currently plays in several projects in the Bay Area, as well as leads of his own group: Saxreligious. He is on faculty at Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Giant Steps Program, and co-leads workshops with the Toag Quartet at Oakland High School.

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sliding scale — $2 to $200

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