Kansas City Star, MO

Posted on Sun, Sep. 17

With KC roots, pianists blossom

Two were semifinalists in the famed Thelonious Monk
competition.

By DAVID GOLDSTEIN
The Star’s Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON | A lot of natural musical talent was on display Saturday
at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, and some of it was
homegrown.

Two pianists with Kansas City roots were among 12 semifinalists in the
2006 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.

Though neither Harold O’Neal nor George Dulin were among the three
finalists selected to perform for the top prize tonight at the John
F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, they said it was enough
just to be on the stage.

`All 12 piano players were smoking,’ Dulin said afterward. `It was
just an honor to be able to make it this far. Hearing who they ended
up choosing for the final three, I completely see why. It’s going to
be a great final competition.’

Instead of the normal 5 to 15 minutes for deliberations, the judges,
who included jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Billy Taylor, took nearly
an hour, the longest in nearly two decades of competition.

`The quality top to bottom is as good as any I’ve attended,’ jazz
writer and former critic Bob Blumenthal said during the wait. `I can
understand why it’s taking so long.’

With jazz considered to be a uniquely American art form, the finalists
reflected how much of a world stage the music has gained. Two of the
three finalists, Tigran Hamasyan and Gerald Clayton, were born in
Armenia and the Netherlands. The third, Aaron Parks, hails from
Seattle.

The competition was started by the Thelonious Monk Institute of
Jazz. It has become for jazz artists what the Tchaikovsky and Van
Cliburn competitions are for classical pianists, and it is a launching
pad for celebrated new artists. Each pianist had about 12 minutes to
play three songs, accompanied by a bassist and drummer. One had to be
a Monk tune. Dulin and O’Neal also played original compositions.

The judges were listening for solid skills – and something personal,
new and different.

`It’s easy to mimic what’s gone by,’ said Thelonious Monk Jr.,
chairman of the institute’s board of directors. `If you are fortunate
enough to be going someplace that’s not only identifiable but clearly
your own space … that’s what jazz is all about.’

O’Neal and Dulin both studied classical piano initially and became
friends when they attended the Berklee College of Music in
Boston. Both perform in clubs across the country. Dulin has also
played overseas.

O’Neal, 25, was born in Tanzania. His family moved to Kansas City, his
father’s birthplace, when he was 4. They lived, appropriately enough,
near the 18th and Vine neighborhood, the site of Kansas City’s
historic jazz scene.

He took up the piano while a student at the Paseo Academy of the
Performing Arts and was drawn to jazz because of `the improvisation,
the expression, the openness.’

After his performance Saturday, one of the hosts, actor Billy Dee
Williams, told the audience, `That kind of brilliance is totally
amazing. It must be a wonderful way to spend your life.’

Dulin, 28, who now lives in New York, grew up in Kansas City, Kan.,
and attended Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. He enjoys jazz’s
unpredictability and freedom.

`You never know what’s going to happen,’ he said.