ABOUT EVE
Elevator Bio
Eve is an active solo and ensemble pianist in the Los Angeles early jazz and swing scene. As a solo artist she has appeared at venues throughout the city, including El Segundo's Old Town Music Hall, and across the country (West Coast Ragtime, Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival). She has performed with Alex Mendham and His Orchestra, Sergio Vellatti Big Band, Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys, Art Deco Jazz Orchestra, Holy Crow Jazz Band, Les Bons Garçons Swing Band, and many others.
Eve and her brother Sam play a free concert in Park City, UT
Galamatas play at The Yard in 2021
Eve played guitar/keys with world group ADAAWE from 2018-2023
1st prize at the 2022 contest
Long Bio - Oh, Didn't She Ramble
Starting at age 7, Eve attended weekly classical piano lessons in Palo Alto CA with her older brother. She played clarinet and alto saxophone in the Fremont High marching and concert bands. Though her brother worked assiduously to become a professional musician and now plays trombone with the Utah Symphony, young Eve kept music as a hobby.
While working on her bachelor's in Linguistics at UCLA (2013-15), Eve took African drum/dance classes and played clarinet in the Bulgarian ensemble led by Ivan Varimezov. She played The Mint with her rock duo Hamadryas (herself on guitar/vox and drummer Ryan Janke). After college and working as a freelance translator (Japanese → English), Eve joined forces with tenor saxophonist Richard Sax Ross to form the zany and irreverent pop band Boinkasaurus.
One April day in 2018, Eve saw a Facebook post looking for a pianist to play Easter service at a church in South Central LA called Peace Chapel. Knowing nothing about gospel music but brimming with that special confidence only the ignorant possess, Eve responded to the post. Thus began her 4-year tenure at the little church, kicking off her professional music career. Each week she learned the songs and playing style by ear, relying on YouTube and constructive criticism from more experienced musicians. She has since played Christian music at various churches around LA and Orange County.
After attending Mendocino Balkan Music & Dance Camp in 2017, Eve and several sympathetic Angelenos formed Gorska Majka (Eve on vox/guitar/melodica). In 2021 she joined with a few lady friends to form Galamatas, an all-female Greek & Rebetiko band (Eve on vox/guitar/accordion). Eve currently plays Greek music with the Hashy Ramblers, who performed in 2025 at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City.
Though primarily an instrumentalist, Eve has sung in various bands and in many informal close harmony groups. She sang alto with the Christmas caroling company The Other Reindeer from 2021 to 2024.
In early 2019, Eve unearthed some music books she had received years prior from her late childhood piano teacher Esther Pfeiffer, finding among them a collection of 12 rags by Scott Joplin. Unfamiliar with ragtime beyond the ice cream truck's rendition of The Entertainer and the "play me off, Johnny!" gag from Family Guy, she began reading through the tunes but found them strange and uncool. Everything was put right when a friend directed her to 1642 Bar in Echo Park one Tuesday night, where she heard live ragtime piano for the first time, courtesy of pianist Andrew Barrett. The music was hot, jangly, richly textured using the full orchestral abilities of the piano, and so joyful. Eve returned to 1642 every week after that and never stopped; she and fellow pianist John Reed-Torres have since taken over the mantle of ragtime Tuesdays.
After playing ragtime for a few years, Eve entered the 2022 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest held in Oxford, Mississippi. The contest has been held yearly since 1975. She took home 1st prize, making her the first woman to win the contest in 22 years. The following year she returned and made 2nd place. The contest victory earned Eve invitations to Sacramento's West Coast Ragtime Festival and Sedalia, Missouri's Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival.
While developing her solo ragtime and stride repertoire, Eve has also established a career as an ensemble jazz pianist. She began teaching herself to play jazz in 2018 and not knowing where to begin, placed an ad on Craigslist seeking jam partners; she soon started a trio, Jazz Because, with friends met this way. Over the years Eve has graduated from the $11 gigs at Joe's Great American and daylighting at Starbucks, to now supporting herself fully as a performer. She regularly plays throughout the LA area at bars, restaurants, theaters, private events, theme parks and more. Eve is continuously working at her musical abilities and always enjoys a nice day in the woodshed with plenty of coffee. She recently added organ to her resume and occasionally performs at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
Endlessly inspired by the passion, advocacy and scholarship of her friends in the ragtime and early jazz community, Eve launched a new undertaking in 2025 – Syncopated Debauchery, a theatrical performance that tells the story of ragtime through comedy, pathos, and of course music. It is Eve's mission to use this show to spread love for ragtime all over the country, and the world.