Eli Yamin - or Dr. E as he is often called - is a musician who was mentored by figures like pianist Barry Harris and writer Amiri Baraka, he has toured as a jazz ambassador for the United States in more than 25 countries, and performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall and the White House. But his heart lies in education. He has dedicated his life to community building through jazz.
Before any of this, back when he was an 18-year-old Rutgers student, his first real job in jazz happened right here at WBGO. “I met the operations manager. He basically hired me on the spot as a board op, $3.35 an hour… my first day of work was my 18th birthday,” he told me.
That first job launched a lifetime of multidisciplinary jazz advocacy. He wrote jazz musicals for young people, taught in schools, worked in theater, and continued performing all informed by an idea he learned early on from the Amiri Baraka: “Jazz is not just music, but it’s also theater, it’s dance, it’s poetry, it’s stories. It’s a whole aesthetic.”
That vision shaped his work at the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, where he began writing jazz musicals for children, and later at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he directed the Middle School Jazz Academy and helped train artists to teach jazz around the world.
All the while, Yamin continued building a career as a pianist, composer, and bandleader. His recent album, Squeeze In Tight: Jazz and Blues Songs for Solidarity, is a collection of swinging songs inspired by resilience, empathy, and collective joy. It’s music that encourages people to stay connected even in difficult times.
But over the last 22 years, perhaps Yamin’s most lasting work has been the creation of the Jazz Power Initiative, a nonprofit organization serving children and families in Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood through music, theater, dance, and jazz education. He told me, “We have about 1,000 children that we’re introducing to jazz in northern Manhattan each year… kids here three or four times a week doing tap dance, singing, piano lessons,” he said.
At the center of Yamin’s teaching is a belief that jazz can help people express themselves, support one another, and build community. As he put it, “The [same] thing that’s giving you the blues is the thing that’s gonna help you take away the blues.”
This year, Jazz Power Initiative is launching a new partnership with WBGO, the same station where Yamin got his first job in jazz almost four decades ago. Together, the organizations hope to expand access to jazz through education, performance, and public media, connecting communities from Newark to Upper Manhattan and beyond.
For Yamin, the moment feels personal. “It’s been an amazing, full circle,” he said.
And this week, Jazz Power Initiative celebrates that connection at its annual Syncopated Celebration at Symphony Space, honoring WBGO President and CEO Steve Williams with the Rothman Family Syncopated Partnership Award, alongside saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and Council Member Carmen De La Rosa.
The Jazz Power Initiative Syncopated Celebration takes place this Thursday at Symphony Space in Manhattan. It’s not too late to get a ticket and be part of it.
Watch the entire interview:
