Chris Eldred
“An unexpected piano solo, as moving and ethereal as the overlaid harmonies.”
London Jazz News · Buxton International Festival, 2024Chris Eldred is a London-based jazz pianist with over fifteen years of experience in live, broadcast and studio settings. He graduated with first-class honours in jazz piano from Trinity College of Music in 2011 and was one of six recipients of that year’s Yamaha Scholarship Award for Outstanding Jazz Musicians.
He holds long-standing chairs with the Louis Dowdeswell Big Band and the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, played the BBC Proms with NYJO in 2012 and the BBC Concert Orchestra’s Disco Prom in 2024, and has been a member of UK touring band Hejira — Celebrating Joni Mitchell since 2022. He leads his own trio at Ronnie Scott’s and sings tenor with the London Vocal Project.
A first listen.
Who he plays with
As leader 01
With Hejira 01
Big bands & orchestras 05
Vocalists & collaborations 06
Quotes
Chris Eldred plays an understated — but vital — role in the band, mainly comping or adding dashes of colour or subtle washes of sound.
On ‘Blue Motel Room’: Eldred on piano the featured instrumental soloist.
Le phrasé virtuose du pianiste Chris Eldred.
He is now a regular performer at Ronnie Scott’s and is one of London’s most in-demand pianists.
Selected recordings
Recent sessions
In full
Chris Eldred began his musical life playing piano, clarinet and singing, before specialising in jazz piano at Trinity College of Music, where he graduated with first-class honours in 2011. He was one of six winners of that year’s Yamaha Scholarship Award for Outstanding Jazz Musicians, and held the piano chair with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra throughout those years — cutting his teeth as a pro musician on dates including the 2012 BBC Proms.
He has since performed and recorded with big bands such as the Louis Dowdeswell Big Band and the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. He has worked in small groups on the London scene, frequenting Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Dean Street and the 606, and has appeared twice at the BBC Proms — in 2012 with NYJO, and in 2024 with the BBC Concert Orchestra for the televised Disco Prom.
Since 2022 he has been a member of UK touring band Hejira — Celebrating Joni Mitchell. He has shared the stage with UK artists including Tunde of Lighthouse Family and Joseph Lawrence (notably supporting Rag’n’Bone Man), and has played the long-running 1930s immersive experience ‘58th Street’ regularly since 2014.
Chris has recorded on albums by Noemi Nuti, Callum Au, Louis Dowdeswell, Dave Panichi and Joseph Lawrence, among many others. His musical life also includes leading his own jazz trio at Ronnie Scott’s and elsewhere, and singing tenor with the London Vocal Project since 2015.