Tribute to my mentor, Amonte Jon Parsons (Blog)

Heard some tough news today that my mentor Amonte Parsons passed away last Saturday.

Without Amonte’s mentorship, my conception of music and of the world wouldn’t be the same. There’s no way I would have gone to music school and I certainly wouldn’t be the person I am.

When Amonte sat down and played, the sound that came out of the piano was different. It was rooted in another era, one that’s closer to the source. While playing a standard, Amonte was composing and arranging instantly, pushing the traditions of Oscar Peterson forward with his own idiosyncrasies. His technique was incredible, and no matter how extraordinary his improvisations were technically, they always maintained beauty through his touch and control of harmony. And then just when you thought it couldn’t get any more unreal, he would seamlessly modulate to the perfect key to develop his arrangement even more, adding brightness or darkness.

Amonte was also a personal mentor to all of us who studied under him. He was old-school. He was tough but showed love in his own way. After lessons we would talk for hours, oftentimes about the world. He made sure to share the lessons he learned living through the civil rights movement as a black jazz musician. He made sure we understood what this music is about.

I spent a few hours thinking about our relationship and listening to recordings of our lessons. Amonte would probably admit that the world had left him to be cynical, but listening to him play piano, the beauty leaves an indelible mark- it’s pure and idealistic- and it will continue to live on with all of us.