At an early age, Eric Shifrin fell in love with the piano. The cheap parlor tricks, boogie woogie, the pretty stuff too. His mother helped him to learn to read music by placing him on her lap with his hands on her fingers as she played through many classical favorites. Traditional piano lessons followed, and by the time he graduated from high school, Shifrin was deeply involved in music and improvisation.
During an early stay in the Bay Area, Shifrin picked up a few piano gigs and met some players. He eventually landed a gig on the cruise ships in Hawaii. For several years he served as an apprenticeship there, buffing up his repertoire and his solo performance chops.
Relocating back to San Francisco in the early nineties, in the midst of the swing resurgence, Shifrin began gigging non-stop. Eric & The In Crowd featured his piano and voice. This band performed thousands of times at nearly every venue in the city. He was the house pianist at The Fairmont San Francisco from 1999-2013.
Currently residing in the peninsula city of San Bruno, Eric Shifrin has enthusiastically performed at the Flower Piano event many times.