The High Note

by Dale Coachman | DC magazine | December 27, 2011

In the Moran household of three peripatetic sons, there were lots of tennis rackets, basketballs and golf clubs lurking around the Houston home. Beyond sports, the boys went to piano lessons, too, though the middle son, Jason, reluctantly thrived within the confines of his classical training. “My father had two cousins that lived in Chicago and both played the blues with Albert King,” says Moran. “They’d come by the house and play... I’d say ‘Wow, that doesn’t sound like anything I’m playing.’”

At age 14, Moran heard Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight” wafting from his parents’ bedroom. The musical investigation that followed led to a decision to make jazz a career. “Sometimes you have to put your hands in the bush and you might get pricked,” says Moran of his journey, which began at a performing arts high school, went on to Manhattan School of Music and nabbed him a spot in famed vocalist Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program at The Kennedy Center in 1998. “If you pull that bush down, you might realize there’s some area to move. Becoming an artist is sticking your hands in the bush a lot.”

He’s since devoted himself to modernizing the art form, teaming with Meshell Ndegeocello to return jazz to its danceable roots, among other things. Moran, 37, comes back to The Kennedy Center as the new artistic advisor to jazz, 14 years after his début there, handpicked by his longtime mentor and predecessor Billy Taylor. “Music changes; it’s not static; so, to present music to audiences who continue to change is the thing to do,” says Moran. “I’ll continue to paint the full portrait of what has become jazz music.”

Moran’s Hots
Bohemian Caverns for live jazz, Mo’ Better Blues, Steinway pianos, Citronelle, “Blessing the Boats” by Alicia Hall Moran—his wife

Moran’s Nots
The Charlie Parker film Bird, Tripe or anything tripe-related, politics’ slow tempo, teaching his composed music to other people, cell phones