by Erica Jackson Curran
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine a successful classical pianist.
What do they look like? If you're like most people, you just conjured
up an older white guy with a shock of white hair. And you wouldn't
necessarily be wrong. That's pretty much what a typical classical
pianist looks like.
But Jade Simmons isn't a typical classical pianist. The Charleston
native has a tendency to mix up her classical stylings with splashes of
rap, jazz, and bossa nova, and her unique approach has earned her recent
gigs everywhere from Russia to the White House, as well as a place
alongside Gabby Douglas and Michelle Obama on Essence magazine's October Style and Substance list.
"It's been an interesting awakening, because as a little girl when I
started playing classical, I didn't make a differentiation between that
music and hip-hop and R&B," she says. "I just listened to stuff that
moved me ... so it was interesting when other people would point out to
me that I was different because I was a black female playing
classical."
And unfortunately it has been pointed out to her time and time again,
like when she was 13 or 14 and she'd just won a Beethoven competition in
Myrtle Beach. An older man approached and told her that she was a
credit to her race, and that he wished that "all blacks" were more like
her. "I appreciated what he was trying to say, but it meant that there
was such a negative stereotype that simply playing Beethoven made me
somehow better than the rest of my people," Simmons, now 34, says. "It's
an interesting world to be in where you are one of a very few, and yes,
it's something that I'm proud of. I like that I'm making a name for
myself, but, of course, I want people to hear the music."
Though she says she hasn't dealt with overt racism, she's always working
to fight against perceptions of what it means to be a classical
musician. "It's been wonderful for me to feel like during the process of
a concert that I might be dispelling a few stereotypes as well as
introducing people — black, white, all colors — to music that they might
not have thought they could've loved so much."
Now living in Houston with her husband, Simmons has been working to
create original music that blends classical and more experimental,
modern styles.
Comment by email:
I only wish I could make some of Jade's concerts. I am a personal friend, but physically unable to do more than read about her now. Thanks for keeping abreast of her great development, and talents. They are many. Izola Collins
Comment by email:
I only wish I could make some of Jade's concerts. I am a personal friend, but physically unable to do more than read about her now. Thanks for keeping abreast of her great development, and talents. They are many. Izola Collins
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