A pair of great pianists, Helen Sung and Isaiah Thompson, recently stopped by Morning Jazz to play and chat about what moves them to move us.
Sung was in the first class of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, studying with Ron Carter, Jimmy Heath and Clark Terry — with all of whom she would one day play professionally. She has just returned from China, performing Monk’s music to packed houses in Beijing and Shanghai. After Monday’s performance with the Mingus Big Band at Jazz Standard, she and the band will travel with Mingus’ music to Tokyo for a week.
Thompson, in his third year at Juilliard, had an old-soul touch as a teenager, coming through both Jazz House Kids and NJPAC’s Jazz For Teens programs. As he embraces the spirit of the past, giving it original thought before playing it forward, Isaiah Thompson simply make jazz people smile every time out.
