Marian McPartland’s musical education

Now, A Jazz Moment...

MUSIC: "I Love You," CD: Windows, Concord CCD2-2233-2, (disc 2, cut1)

NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland

Marian McPartland: My sister had a boyfriend who was really into jazz but she wasn't that keen. So he wanted to talk about jazz to somebody, so he switched to me. It was like, I'm here, I'd like to hear that music. That's when I really got to hear some jazz.

McPartland's musical education continued at London's Guidhall School of Music where she studied classical piano.

And I would be practicing and then I would try to play some jazz. The whole thing came to a head because I was doing this and the professor heard me, opened the practice room door and said, stop playing that trash!

This experience only fueled her passion to play jazz. Today Marian McPartland is a celebrated pianist, composer and legend. This Jazz Moment was created by the National Endowment for the Arts.