Today, October 8, jazz pianist Sullivan Fortner was named and honored by The Gilmore’s Awards as their initial Larry J. Bell Jazz artist award winner.
The Gilmore Awards have been presented in the past to classical pianists. This is the first year a jazz winner has been named as well. The award is not only a huge honor for the 38-year-old Fortner, but as he and I discussed, the entire jazz community.
The prestigious award also comes with a $300,000 prize, a significant amount in the jazz scene. I spoke with Fortner exclusively about the honor and more.
Steve Baltin: Doing Monterey Jazz festival this weekend, do people know that you won the award or no?
Sullivan Fortner: No, they told us not to make an announcement until after the award ceremony in October.
Baltin: How did you first find out you won?
Fortner: I got a phone call from my agent. I was in the middle of a trio tour and back in March, April, somewhere around there. My friend said, “When you get to Atlanta, the hotel that you’re staying in, there’s going to be a meeting that I need you to go to.” I’m like, “Okay, whatever. What’s the meeting about?” Said, “I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s a meeting that I need you to go to.” So, I called him when I got to Atlanta. He was like, “All right, go down to the lobby, pass the lobby into this meeting room or whatever, conference room and when you go down there, go down there dressed.” So, I went downstairs, I did as I was told and then I saw all of these people there and some of them I recognized but a couple of them I didn’t know who they were at all. Then that’s when they told me that I had won the grant and I was like, “Wow, okay, thank you.”
Baltin: From what I was understanding from reading the description you didn’t even know you were in the running for it.
Fortner: No, I had no idea of anything. I didn’t know anything about the process. They hinted at the nomination process and who was a part of the nominating committee. And then over the course of maybe a year or two, some people came to my gigs, unbeknownst to me, and just sat and observed. Then they had a voting committee that voted. My name came up. I said, “I didn’t know anything about this. I didn’t even know Gilmore had an award situation.”
Baltin: Obviously they have a long history in classical, but you are the first jazz winner. Were you familiar with the award at all?
Fortner: I wasn’t even familiar with the classical award. I heard some things about the young artists awards and different people that won the young artists awards but I didn’t know anything about the major classical award or that they were starting a jazz award at all, I had no clue.
Baltin: No matter what happens now, you’re always going to be the first jazz winner.
Fortner: Yeah, it’s always very cool to be first. It’s a lot of pressure, but it definitely feels cool to be first.
Baltin: It’s funny, you say it’s a lot of pressure, but I imagine as well, while as an artist you don’t want awards to be your validation, it’s got to feel good.
Fortner: Absolutely, of all the people that they could have chosen I could totally go down that rabbit hole of why did they choose me? But when they told me that I got it, more than anything, I was grateful that I was nominated with my peers, and some of my peers were part of the nominating committee and the voting committee. It was definitely humbling and it was definitely affirming, even though like you like you said it’s not for me. I just play because I love to play, it’s not because I won an award or because of any type of accolades. I just want to play and I’m grateful for that.
Baltin: At the same time you don’t play for awards, the $300,000 award is nice. How will you use it?
Fortner: It’s definitely a miracle, because I’m not used to winning. There are some people that I know that are used to winning, and I’m not one of those people. So, to have an award like that, that’s that prestigious definitely doesn’t suck. It definitely is going to be put to good use. It’s definitely going to pay off some bills and some student loans and a couple of other things that I want to do for sure. I am flirting with the idea of writing something on a grand scale, something for like an orchestra or something. I’m flirting with the idea of doing a project with my family. I come from a family of singers. So, I’m flirting with the idea of doing a project that features all of them, all maybe 70 to 100 of them (laughing). Just to have the ability to try is a beautiful thing. And I’m grateful for that.
Baltin: How important is an award like this, not just for you personally, but as you mentioned, there are young artists being honored? So, it can inspire them and other artists to know what they do is going to be appreciated.
Fortner: It’s very affirming and very important in the fact that it’s affirming and it shows that people actually care about the music and about culture, and about something that is something that is American at its core and that exists because of merit. It can encourage and if anything it also inspires young musicians, in particular pianists, to continue to practice and to continue to learn and to expand and to challenge themselves to be as good as musicians, but as humans.