Encounter #8: Jazzy Chopin with Erick
This week's Encounter is with 9 to 5'er artist, Erick Chang. Erick is a chemical engineer turned app developer who works in New York City. Outside of his job, Erick enjoys playing jazz piano. For his Encounter, Erick has chosen to share his cover of a jazz version of Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2. If you would like to learn more about Erick and his passion for jazz, please check out his bio on The Characters page of this website.
I Encountered Erick and his musical talents in college. Erick and I were classmates in the chemical engineering undergraduate program at our university. When I think back to our college years, I always remember Erick as the Funny Guy in our class. He would sit in the back of class with a deck of playing cards and always seemed to have the perfect blend of sarcasm, truth, and wit in his one-liners as we got back tests where the highest score was, to our horror, often a 50. In a major and a university as difficult and competitive as ours, Erick’s humor was much needed.
For 2 years, I simply knew Erick as the kind and funny card-playing chemical engineering student. Then, one day, while studying, I heard the most impressively fast piano playing I had ever heard and looked up to discover it was Erick! He was jamming on the piano in our student lounge and I was mesmerized to see how quickly his fingers glided across the piano keys. Even though he was playing a classical piece, there was a sense of rhythm and style that he added to it that made his performance unique to me and remained in my memory many years after we graduated.
Erick was one of the first people who opened my eyes to the surprising artistic and creative side that exists in so many people who pursue professions in science and engineering. Many of the people that I attended university with, including Erick, were the inspiration behind this idea of Encounters as I did not expect to attend an engineering school and come to discover artists, dancers, musicians, and actors. These people revealed to me how labels do no justice to the depth of human character.
I encourage you to check out more of Erick’s story in his bio to learn how his art has evolved over the years and how he has found a “home” in the genre of jazz. Now, without further ado, I introduce to you our Encounter with the jazz pianist, Erick Chang.
P.S. Interested to hear more of Erick's smooth piano tunes? Check out his YouTube channel: Erick Chang
