Eric Lilley at Dazzle Jazz Club

Eric LilleyEric Lilley is a composer, pianist born November 17, 1954 in Corona , California . His earliest musical influences can be attributed to his mother, Donna, a piano teacher. Most of Eric’s childhood was spent in the Denver, Colorado area until moving to Boston, Massachusetts to attend the Berklee College of Music. Eric studied piano with Art Blakey pianist James Williams, and composition with Michael Gibbs and Herb Pomeroy. In 1978 Eric graduated from Berklee with a BA in composition and began his professional career.In a career spanning forty years Eric has had a wide range of musical experiences including performances with Chuck Berry, Donna Summer, The Platters, The Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Shoji Tabuchi and Lawrence Welk...

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Eric LilleyEric Lilley is a composer, pianist born November 17, 1954 in Corona , California . His earliest musical influences can be attributed to his mother, Donna, a piano teacher. Most of Eric’s childhood was spent in the Denver, Colorado area until moving to Boston, Massachusetts to attend the Berklee College of Music. Eric studied piano with Art Blakey pianist James Williams, and composition with Michael Gibbs and Herb Pomeroy. In 1978 Eric graduated from Berklee with a BA in composition and began his professional career.In a career spanning forty years Eric has had a wide range of musical experiences including performances with Chuck Berry, Donna Summer, The Platters, The Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Shoji Tabuchi and Lawrence Welk. HIs musical theater credits include performing with the national touring versions of Wicked, Hairspray, Spamalot, and Legally Blonde.In 2005 Eric received his MA in composition from the University of Denver where he was awarded outstanding Graduate student of 2005. He studied piano with Eric Gunnison and composition with William Hill.Eric was leader of jazz group You Guys from 1985 until 1991 with many appearances in the Colorado region including the Telluride Jazz Festival (1989), Vail Jazz Festival (1988) Breckenridge Jazz Festival (1987,1989) Jazz in the Sangres (1990) and the Winter Park Jazz Festival (1990). They released one album Play de Doh on ITI Records in 1990.In 2007 Eric founded Twin Goat Records where he has subsequently released his music including a solo piano project Songs Without Words (2007). Eric has released four jazz trio CD’s, Joie de Vivre and FollowUp (2020) Three (2023) and Swing Set ,2025. Suzanne Lorge of DownBeat magazine wrote of Joie de Vivre, “The Eric Lilley Trio moves bracingly through the album’s set of heady swing tunes, charming jazz waltzes, and adrenalized bop revelations … a collection as refreshing as the title suggests. And as with many acoustic trios of long association, the groups repertoire trips easily off its fingers”.

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