Pianist Sullivan Fortner And His Keys To Success

“This generous gift is a welcome reminder for me to create more music,” says pianist Sullivan Fortner, the recipient of The Gilmore’s inaugural 2026 Larry J. Bell Jazz Artist Award.

The award comes with a whopping $300,000 spaced out over four years, making this the largest single gift ever dedicated solely to a jazz pianist.

Founded in 1989, The Gilmore is dedicated to commissioning, presenting, and awarding extraordinary piano artistry.

The Bell Artist Award, established in 2022, is presented every four years on a non-competitive basis to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, is a profound musician with a breadth of musicianship and individual artistic voice, inclusive of original compositions, and whose active recording and global touring career can use the enhancement that the award’s prestige and funds provide.

Both casual and virtuosic, the Brooklyn-based pianist, via his hometown of New Orleans where he was mentored by Ellis Marsalis, has achieved worldwide fame. This honor will help Fortner’s talent, vision, and heart carry jazz forward.

The two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist is also an acclaimed composer, band leader, and educator, who began playing piano at age 7, earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, and Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music. Whether playing solo or leading an orchestra, Fortner preserves the tradition of the genre and evolves the sound into different musical styles that are at once deeply soulful and wildly inventive.

Straus Media sat down with the award winner to discuss what the honor means to him, his most meaningful collaborations, and what he’s going to do with the money.

Describe being the first jazz pianist to receive this award.

It hasn’t really hit me yet. I definitely do feel honored . . . nervous and unworthy of it because I realize the pressure and responsibility that come with not only being the first jazz musician, but the first African American to receive it. I’m very inspired to continue to push and become better.

How do you plan to use the award to advance your musical vision?

I would like to work with my family. I come from a family of musicians, singers, and songwriters. The thing would be to collaborate with them. Another thing that I would like to do is outreach with schools and younger pianists and musicians in urban cities.

You’ve worked with an incredible range of artists, including Marsalis and Paul Simon. How do these diverse collaborations inform your work?

These musicians that we’re talking about are very serious . . . very honest. If they like something, they’ll tell you. If they don’t, they’ll let you know that, too. The cool thing about them is they’re both educators. They will sit with you and work [a musical piece] out until you get it to the point where everybody’s happy.

I remember the recording session I did with Paul. He was just like, “I just don’t like this.” We spent seven hours on the track, and then two hours after that. We changed the form and just redid the whole thing, and finally, he was like, “Okay, this is better.” That’s the kind of spirit that I’m talking about. And Wynton’s the same. Most of the people that I’ve collaborated with are. All of them have that type of sensibility that it doesn’t matter how long it takes, we’re going to get it. They care about the process. A lot of times, we do things for the end result, but we don’t do things for the process. It’s going to be rough in the beginning, but stick with it. Don’t give up because you don’t get it. By not giving up, you discover all of these other things that you can use for something else.

How does playing solo versus leading a trio or orchestra change the way you engage with the audience?

Well, when I’m playing solo piano, I’m playing for a band of two. And what I mean by that is I’m playing for myself and the audience. The more people involved, the more people are part of the conversation. So, a trio becomes a quartet. A quartet becomes a quintet. I always look at the audience as the missing piece of the band.

I try to erase that invisible curtain that separates the stage from the audience and make it feel like we’re in the living room just playing . . . just having fun.

What I’ve read is that you are a champion of mentorship. So, what lessons from your own mentors do you pass on to your students?

I pass on a lot of things. I mean, I don’t even look at myself as a mentor, so to speak. I look at myself as an older brother. I basically say, whatever you have is not for you. It’s for you to share with other people.

I share everything from my experiences on the road to my philosophy of how you sit at the piano. How to treat the instrument. What the qualities are that make a good pianist. What are the qualities that make a good melody? Or a good harmony? A good chord? A good musician? A good person? Sometimes we talk about music, record contracts, and the music business. Sometimes we talk about life. I just try to share whatever it is I have. And in turn, I learn. Let’s just learn from each other.

Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novel “The Last Single Woman in New York City.”