Kirk Lightsey on flute and piano

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Kirk Lightsey on how he learned to play

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Kirk Lightsey discusses solo piano

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Q: “You must have studied in a more formal way because you have beautiful technique…”

A: “Oh, yes. Well, as a matter of fact, Tommy Flanagan's brother was my first piano teacher and his name was Johnson, is Johnson Flanagan, he's still around. I haven't seen him in years and years, but I always ask Tommy about him but that was my piano teacher. And he got so busy after a while that I had to find another teacher, so it ended up being a teacher that … Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Alice, well, Coltrane now and a few other people. Ruth Watson who is quite a classical pianist in Detroit. I ended up studying with her at the same time, oddly enough, and Kenny Burrell was a guitar teacher in the same school. Pardon me for saying something about your age, Kenny, but we were all there and we were doing recitals together at the same time. At the time I didn't know what it really meant. I knew that Tommy was a favorite of mine, but I didn't know why exactly other than him being the brother of my first teacher but we do these recitals together. Well, soon we dispersed and they went on to New York or different places and you know, but well, that was also our life, you know, Tommy's brother.”