Assistant Professor of Literature Maya Kronfeld participated as keyboardist on a GRAMMY-winning album for the second time in two years. (Shaun King/Trinity Communications)
Assistant Professor of Literature Maya Kronfeld participated as keyboardist on a GRAMMY-winning album for the second time in two years. (Shaun King/Trinity Communications)

Literature Professor Has the Grammy Magic for Second Year in a Row

Maya Kronfeld played jazz piano on award-winning album

Literature Professor Has the Grammy Magic for Second Year in a Row

Maya Kronfeld played jazz piano on award-winning album

Last year, Maya Kronfeld had the satisfaction of seeing Nicole Zuraitis’ How Love Begins, on which she played keyboards, win a GRAMMY Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album.

Fast forward to Sunday night and the 2025 GRAMMY Awards. Once again, an album featuring Kronfeld as keyboardist – Taylor Eigsti’s Plot Armor – won for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. The recording also features jazz icons Terence Blanchard, Lisa Fischer and many others. 

(Listen to Plot Armor on Spotify)

Participating in two GRAMMY-winning albums in as many years is no small feat. For Kronfeld, an assistant professor in the Literature Program, it demonstrates her profound musical skill as well as the interdisciplinary focus she brings to Duke.

In addition to her primary appointment as an assistant professor of theory in the Literature Program, Kronfeld has recently received additional appointments in the departments of music and philosophy.

“This is a great time to celebrate the ongoing art form that is Jazz and Black American Music, and all that it continues to make possible in theory and practice,” she said. “I feel really lucky to be at a university that is a center for research in this area, and I’m thrilled at the possibilities for collaboration this will enable.”

Maya Kronfeld is shown playing the electric piano in Taylor Eigsti’s music video for Bucket of F’s.

One collaboration already resulting from Kronfeld’s interdepartmental work is her graduate seminar, “Putting it Together: Jazz and Literature,” which will include class visits from world-renowned guest artists on the Duke Arts roster.

Kronfeld is in demand as a keyboardist and clinician both locally and nationally. A native of the Bay Area like Eigsti, the two have collaborated frequently during the past 15 years, including teaching together at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. Kronfeld performed with Eigsti’s group last year at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and they have been performing music from Plot Armor since last year.

“As a performing artist and composer, Taylor is as generously collaborative as he is brilliant and virtuosic,” Kronfeld said. “The heart of Plot Armor is in the right place, and I’m overjoyed to have been part of bringing his experimental and elegant music to life. I look forward to many more projects together.”

If you want to catch Maya Kronfeld performing locally, she will join internationally renowned flutist and former Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) chairwoman Nicole Mitchell on March 28 at the Durham Jazz Workshop in Sharp 9 Gallery.

More About Maya Kronfeld