Lenox — If you were fortunate enough to hear the John Pizzarelli Big Band in December, then you have heard Isaiah J. Thompson play jazz piano at a mind-boggling level of excellence. Mr. Thompson shone so brightly as a member of Pizzarelli’s band that you longed to hear more of this young man’s playing. Now you can, because he will appear with his quartet at the Linde Center for Music and Learning on Friday, May 2, at 7 p.m.
Many professional musicians have enough bluster to spare when it comes to extolling their occupational skills. Not Isaiah J. Thompson. This award-winning jazz wunderkind (still in his 20s) seems to have been born humble. So you probably won’t hear him go on and on about winning the American Piano Awards or teaching at his alma mater The Juilliard School or his debut with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis. All we have to go on are accolades like the 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, second place in the 2018 Thelonious Monk Competition, and the 2023 American Pianists Awards, which came with the prestigious Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz.
I spoke with Mr. Thompson last week via Zoom. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What is ‘The Book of Isaiah,’ besides being part of the Bible?
‘The Book of Isaiah’ is a suite of music that I composed over the last few years, essentially as a testimony. It’s about my coming to faith. And it just shows the different ways that it’s influenced me over time.
You have songs that are a little bit more secular, like ‘Cake Walk Dilemma,’ which is just dealing with the sound of the blues and what it means in the American context, especially through the lens of the African-American. But me being a young person, hearing that sound for the first time and maybe not understanding at that time that I was hearing the sound of the blues and what that would mean for my faith later on. But at the end, by the time you get to ‘The Prophet,’ which is at the end of the suite, you can hear the sound of freedom.
And the entire album is really utilizing different sounds in jazz by different composers. People like Charles Mingus, people that have used things in relation to race and faith to talk about God.
This suite is the core of the material you’ll be performing at the Linde Center?
Absolutely.
It’s related to faith, but I’ve never seen the word ‘gospel’ in connection with your music. Can you play honest-to-God, real gospel piano?
That’s a great question. It’s a really good question, because I would say no. Also because I was very particular about the language that was used for this recording, because I didn’t want to be painted in a way that I didn’t feel was true. I have so much respect for pianists and musicians that really can play that style. And one of the biggest reasons I came to do this recording was because one of my first introductions to worship music that was not ‘gospel’ was actually playing Duke Ellington’s sacred music. And I’d never heard music that was about God. That was not gospel music.
And when I started to check that out, I listened to Mary Lou Williams music, I understood, ‘You know what? Jazz does have so much of a relationship to faith.’ And I wanted to just show people that there are other ways to talk about God other than just this one way, because there’s such a diversity to the body. We always talk about the many ways that God can use people, and it doesn’t have to just be through this one music. There’s so many ways, especially when it comes to the arts.
How do you convey religious faith in jazz music?
I think one of the ways, the first thing is when we talk about the blues. I think the blues was such, for me, an understanding of what it is that Jesus did when you understand that there was a happiness about it, but it doesn’t feel that way in the moment all the time, when you’re having to figure out, ‘What is this sadness?’ But it’s not going to be for long. That’s what the blues embodies. And for me, being able to embody the blues and understand, look back and say, ‘I was hearing the blues for the first time as a kid, but I didn’t understand that that would inform my understanding of what salvation was later on.’ I think that’s the essence of what I try to communicate through a lot of the themes that I used just throughout the suite. But I think there’s also some more on-the-nose things like, I wrote something that goes along with the Lord’s Prayer that’s a bit more on the nose. You get to hear the lyrics, but it’s swinging.
What does it mean to play soulfully? Can I use the word ‘churchy’ in place of the word ‘soulful’?
That’s tough, because I think that playing soulfully… I should say this first: that I think there are people who have not played in church who can play with soul. And I think the definition of soul is getting as close as you can to your own sound and who you are. And I never want to take something like the sound of gospel music and make it less than what it is, because one thing we’ve seen a lot is, you just take the sound of the church, but it doesn’t feel the same. Why? Because it’s played in a performative way. But does it actually have the feeling of what it represents?
When I think about soul, I actually have to communicate. Is it actually deep enough? Is it steeped in something that’s deep enough that I can communicate, that can actually affect somebody else in a positive way?
What is Modern Jazz Ministry? Is that just what you do, or is it the name of your band, or what?
Another great question. Modern Jazz Ministry is a movement. Modern Jazz Ministry is definitely a movement. Something that I’ve worked on or I just want people to understand what we were talking about earlier, that there’s more than one way to talk about God through your music. And that modern jazz, in my understanding, is a music that basically we’re re-establishing communication between people through things like ‘Congo Square.’ If we’re communicating in real time, in the music, and honestly and in new ways, that’s what makes it modern, nothing else. Now, if we take that modern jazz and we apply it to ministry, that means we’re just talking about God and that’s all it is. It’s a movement.
Is it a movement that you started?
I would not say so. I would not be so prideful as to say that. I just put a name on it.
You studied at Julliard. Does that mean you are a classical player as well as jazz?
No, I would never say so. I actually teach there now, and I’ve had so many friends and people I’ve known who are just great classical pianists. I never got far enough to say that I really played the repertoire. And I think sometimes when we talk about ‘classically trained,’ we’re trying to associate them with some level of professionalism sometimes. My parents put me in the classical school, but I’d never go so far as to say that I really played classical music or whatever we consider classical music. I wouldn’t say so, but there are a few things that I have played, I guess.
Does that mean someone coming to one of your shows or listening to any of your recordings might hear flashes of classical music influences in your compositions?
They might say so. I was definitely around it. I definitely heard it. But for me to really say that I was classically trained, I don’t think it would be fair.
What can we expect to hear at the Linde Center in addition to what you’ve already described?
We’ll be playing a lot of music from the suite, but there’s also some newer compositions that are related to what we’re talking about, Modern Jazz Ministry. There’s also some other music, things that I’ve come back to with a greater understanding, which I’ve just realized recently, ‘This means something a lot different than I thought it was when I was first learning it when I was 13 years old. You might hear some songs like that.
Do you play any standards?
Yes. You might hear some of those, but with a bit of a different understanding. Great question.
Who are your sidemen for the Linde show?
It will be Sebastian Rios on bass, David Alveraz III on drums, and Boyce Griffith on tenor saxophone.
What else should we know about why people should come to hear your show at the Linde Center?
I think if you’re interested in the potential of what God can do through music, can do through jazz, through modern jazz, I think it might be worth you considering to come hear us.
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Hear the Isaiah J. Thompson Quartet at Tanglewood’s Linde Center for Music and Learning on Friday, May 2, at 7 p.m. Tickets and more information are available here.
