My favorite musical event was when I first performed jazz piano in front of a live audience at Merit School of Music. It was great. I felt like Michael Jordan going for a three-pointer with :10 on the clock in the last game of the finals. I immediately got in the zone and played. It was incredible. Because I had learned to read music during my classical training, I was placed into a lead piano role without really knowing what to do or play. I fell in love with jazz. I started to listen to the jazz greats all the time on my phone, on YouTube and on my way to school, and I was learning. I spent hours searching and listening to all the possible artists and sounds ranging from Ellington to Coltrane. I was blown away by one musician in particular. His name was Kenny Kirkland. Kenny isn't your everyday pianist, he was an influential jazz musician who inspired a wave of musical ideas in the 90’s which hold true even to today. Although Kenny’s musical career was short lived, in the time he did he was featured on numerous albums and recordings. His style of playing and melodic ideas were reflected off of numerous pianists from earlier years. He was a combination of different prominent styles and he could play them all. Although I only recently discovered his playing, transcribing his solos and understanding his playing has brought my playing to a new level. Since I discovered his playing, I have learned multiple ways to manipulate chord changes and rhythm in ways I didn't know were possible. After listening to his playing on the song Mr J.C, I started a whole new approach to not only the notes, but the way the notes sounded. How to use my fingers to play the notes in different ways and how to alter the sound of the piano. This ranged from playing lightly with more articulation to applying a certain hand technique in playing licks. I would go into specifics about the melodic component but I could go on for hours about that. Kenny Kirkland has had an immense impact on my playing in a rhythmic/melodic sense. There are so many parts of music and I haven't even opened past the first chapter yet. Kenny Kirkland helped me get past some of the first pages into jazz harmony and I am grateful I heard his music.

The song Lush Life is a song originally made by Billy Strayhorn when he was 14. It has incredible harmony rotating around multiple key centers throughout the song. The depth in harmony grasps my interest every time I listen to it. It is played in this recording by one of my favorite pianists, Chick Corea. He dives into such harmonic development of chords straying from the original chord structure he takes the song and turns it into its own. Every time I listen to his rendition it lights a spark which opens my mind to new melodic ideas and song ideas. The first time I heard this song I was sitting in the car. I played it in my headphones and instantly when I got home spent 4 hours at the piano playing the song and learning it. I then branched out developing melodic motifs which sprung from the original and eventually made a song of my own. After this I transcribed the version I enjoyed so much and grabbed bits and pieces of it and applied it to my own version. Every time I listen to this song it inspires me to create.

Pursuing piano has been a lifelong journey. I started when I was 4 with classical piano playing numerous concerts and recitals and building my technique. I spent hours a day learning certain pieces building up the foundations of my piano skills. I had to deal with the struggle of learning multiple pieces while also memorizing them. It took many years of failure to understand that piano is what I wanted to do. As soon as covid hit I was stuck with a massive roadblock. I had to make a decision between piano or anything else. I was given hours and hours of free time to practice and make use of it. It wasn't until I started to play more live gigs that I realized that it was what I wanted to do. I was on stage playing with a band making decisions real time all because I spent the time practicing. It felt incredibly natural and as an added benefit I got paid! At that moment I broke through a mental barrier and knew exactly what I wanted to do in life.