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Eliot Zigmund

Veteran jazz drummer Eliot Zigmund has enjoyed a wide and varied career in jazz spanning forty years of playing.

Past and present associations with artists include Bill Evans, Michel Petrucciani, Vince Guaraldi, Jim Hall, Stan Getz, Benny Golson, Richie Beirach, David Berkman, Gene Bertrocini, Eddie Gomez, Bobby Watson, Eddie Henderson, Enrico Pieranunzi, Dado Maroni, Jed Levy, Bobby Porcelli, Michael Kanan, Mauro Negri, Paolo Birro, Lee Konitz, Don Friedman, Fred Hersch, Art Lande, Helen Merrill, Ted Rosenthal, Pete Malinverni, Lorenzo Conte, Cameron Brown, Warren Vache and many others.

Born 1945 in the Bronx, Eliot grew up in the fertile New York jazz scene of the 50’s and 60’s and began playing professionally at the age of 15 with an older brother who was an aspiring jazz guitarist. He studied music at both the Mannes College of Music and at the City College of New York and upon receiving his degree from CCNY in 1968, he devoted himself to pursuing his dream of becoming a jazz musician. He currently resides in Teaneck, New Jersey with his wife Anna.

Eliot has been a sideman on many recordings and has also released three albums under his own name including his just released Steeplechase recording titled Breeze, featuring Gary Versace, Mike Lee and Phil Polumbi.

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6

Album Review

Vince Guaraldi: It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown

Read "It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown" reviewed by Joshua Weiner


The winsome series of pianist Vince Guaraldi's soundtracks for the original Peanuts television specials is a gift from Lee Mendelson Film Productions that keeps on giving. Arriving just in time for “spooky season" is the premiere release of music from 1974's It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown, with three colored vinyl pressings unique to individual retailers (Urban Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, and Think Indie) available on September 11, 2026, followed by the wide release of black vinyl, CD, and digital versions ...

23

Album Review

Michel Petrucciani / Dave Holland / Eliot Zigmund: Kuumbwa

Read "Kuumbwa" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Michel Petrucciani was not blessed with a long life. What the French-born jazz pianist was blessed with was an enormous talent, one most people could not amass in several lifetimes. Petrucciani was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disease that led to brittle bones, stunted his growth and left him in almost constant pain--the sort of ailment that would cause many lesser men to simply throw in the towel and retreat. Petrucianni never even gave that a passing ...

1

Album Review

Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa

Read "Kuumbwa" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Alla fine del suo ricordo personale, contenuto nel libretto di questo doppio album, Enrico Pieranunzi si rammarica di come, in qualche modo, Michel Petrucciani sia stato dimenticato dal mondo del jazz. Il mondo a cui aveva donato tutto se stesso. Escluso da una vita “regolare," condannato dall'osteogenesi imperfecta a far convivere intelligenza e sensibilità sopraffine in un corpo dolente, Michel trovava nella musica il suo riscatto emozionale, un elemento da controllare e dominare a piacimento, consapevole invece che il tempo ...

3

Album Review

Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa

Read "Kuumbwa" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Michel Petrucciani's Kuumbwa is the type of release that reminds us why live jazz recordings still matter. This is not a vault-cleaning exercise, nor just a historical note. Recorded at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California, in 1987, it is now released by Elemental Music, first as an exclusive two-LP Record Store Day set, with CD and digital editions to follow. This excellent recording captures Michel Petrucciani in one of his most exciting trio settings, alongside longtime drummer ...

6

Album Review

Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa

Read "Kuumbwa" reviewed by Jack Kenny


Recorded live on May 11, 1987, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California, this album catches pianist Michel Petrucciani during an inspired phase of his career. It was not his first visit to the venue. While living in Big Sur--about an hour south of Santa Cruz--Petrucciani had befriended saxophonist Charles Lloyd, who was on a hiatus from music. Encouraged by the young French pianist, Lloyd gradually resumed playing, eventually forming a duo with Petrucciani that performed at the ...

6

Album Review

Vince Guaraldi: It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

Read "It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!" reviewed by Joshua Weiner


The series of complete Peanuts television special soundtracks put out by Lee Mendelson Film Productions continues to thrill fans of Vince Guaraldi, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and all the gang. After the highly successful Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving animated specials, the stage was set for 1974's It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! Recorded over two days at Wally Heider Studios in Guaraldi's hometown of San Francisco, the soundtrack--resurrected for the first time from the 16-track master tape and freshly mixed--features the ...

12

Album Review

Bill Evans: You Must Believe In Spring (Hybrid SACD)

Read "You Must Believe In Spring (Hybrid SACD)" reviewed by Doug Collette


The quietude with which “B Minor Waltz (For Ellaine)" opens You Must Believe In Spring belies the hearty homage this release constitutes in recognition of the title's forty-fifth anniversary. As a means of righteous and deserving tribute to his seventieth studio album, the late Bill Evans' debut for the Warner Bros. label is enhanced in a number of ways. First and foremost is the sonic upgrade for hybrid-SACD (as well as the vinyl LP configuration). Using the Plangent ...

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Performance / Tour

Eliot Zigmund Quartet at Small's NYC

Eliot Zigmund Quartet at Small's NYC

Source: All About Jazz


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Performance / Tour

Jim Desalvo Quartet Featuring Eliot Zigmund, June 10, 2007

Jim Desalvo Quartet Featuring Eliot Zigmund, June 10, 2007

Source: All About Jazz


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Performance / Tour

Jim DeSalvo Trio featuring Eliot Zigmund, 4/22/05

Jim DeSalvo Trio featuring Eliot Zigmund, 4/22/05

Source: All About Jazz


"Without getting in anyone's way, Zigmund was a constant presence. Virtually every stroke had a telling effect. He displayed a knack for briefly foregrounding a single component of the drum kit. On “You And The Night And The Music” several hard hits to the snare leapt out during a brief lull in Richmond's solo. During Ash's “In Your Own Sweet Way” turn, successive strokes to a top cymbal sounded like a chisel splitting a piece of granite. Zigmund made the hi-hat cymbals sing by using just the foot pedal behind Ash on “Beatrice.” He was all ride cymbal when Richmond began to build up a head of steam in the course of “Simone.” The drummer sounded akin to a clamorous machine throughout most of his “I'll Remember April” solo. Utilizing every part of the drum kit, themes were wrapped in long bursts of energy." -David A. Orthmann, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Kuumbwa

Elemental Music
2026

buy

It's a Mystery,...

Lee Mendelson Film Productions
2026

buy

It's The Easter...

Lee Mendelson Film Productions
2025

buy

Golden

New Direction Records
2024

buy

You Must Believe In...

Craft Recordings
2022

buy

Everybody Still Digs...

Craft Recordings
2021

buy

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