Eli Maliwan is a performing musician, composer, and educator who was born and raised in the Bay Area, CA. He performs, records, and tours with multiple local projects including his own and is a faculty member for Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Giant Steps Program. He studied music full time in lieu of traditional high school and received a Bachelor’s of Music from Portland State University where he was deeply influenced by the mentorship of Darrell Grant. Eli continued study with a Master’s of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts. Although his obsession with saxophone is 20 years strong, Eli is a multi-instrumentalist that also performs on flute, clarinet, EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), piano, electric bass, and voice.

Eli has had the honor of performing with Jimmy Heath, Steve Turre, James Moody, Slide Hampton, and Alphonso Johnson. Eli has played at prestigious festivals such as Uberjazz in Hamburg Germany opening for the Sun Ra Arkestra, SF Jazz in CA, San Jose Jazz Fest in CA, Noise Pop Festival in CA, Bric Jazz Festival in NY, Winter Jazzfest in NY, Portland Jazz Festival in OR, The Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland OR, as well as several dates with Salami Rose Joe Louis Quartet opening for Flying Lotus on his national 2019 tour.