During a trip to the KNKX studios in 2014, skillful pianist Helen Sung remembered an invitation to a Harry Connick Jr. concert that changed her life.
"I don't know who he is. And [my friend] said, 'Don't worry, he's very cute. You'll like him,'" Sung said.
She did like him. Shortly after the concert, she left her plans for a career in classical music behind to pursue jazz.
"I remember sitting there thinking, 'How come no one told me about this?' You know, he was playing this music that had such verve, such life, the rhythm was just...it just made me feel like I wanted to jump out of my skin," Sung said.
Coming up at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas, Sung was dedicated to her classical piano studies. She had very little interaction with the future jazz stars who happened to be studying on the other side of the school, like Robert Glasper, Jason Moran, and Kendrick Scott.
She went on to earn her master's degree in classical performance at the University of Texas at Austin. It was during those college days that she stumbled upon Connick Jr, which jump-started her new musical direction.
"I came to realize what a huge world this music was, and how weighty...and full of such majesty and the swing, that swing feel, which is unique to jazz," Sung said.
Using technical skills honed in classical music, Sung embraced improvisation. In 1995, she was accepted to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz where she was able to work with some of her new jazz heroes. From there, her cross-genre talents won Sung the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition in 2007.
The great pianist Kenny Barron, one of Sung's mentors, gave her an important insight into the difference between classical music and jazz.
"Classical, you don't step on the stage until you've perfected it in the practice room. With jazz, you step on the stage and you perfect it there," Sung said.
Today, Sung's a highly in-demand member of the national jazz scene. Sung is a member of the Mingus Big Band, the all-star ensemble Artemis, and, in 2021, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to support her work as a composer.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Hope Springs Eternally"
- "Armando's Rumba"
- "Carolina Shout"
