Colombian Jazz Pianist Jesús Molina Reveals How He Fuses Faith And Funk Into His Music

In June 2023, Colombian jazz pianist Jesús Molina walked onto the NCPA stage, mesmerised one and all with his music and walked straight into our hearts. Now two years later, he was back on the same stage, with a brand new crew, bringing on guitarist Rock Choi, bassist Alex Polydoroff and drummer Cain Daniel.

Molina and his band had a blast on Thursday 5^th June playing with artistic brilliance, captivating the audience with an 80-minute set featuring music from various South American countries in a jamboree mix of salsa, samba, Bossa nova, timba and jazz, reflecting the diverse musical landscape of South America. The concert showcased not only Molina's lightning-fast piano skills, but his prowess as an established vocalist, multi-instrumentalist (playing drums and sax). Without doubt one can even say, without a band, 29-year-old Jesus Molina can be described as a one-man force.

We met the ever smiling and cool Molina at the NCPA, hours before his show, to learn more about his unique and inspiring story.

Excerpts from the interview:

Jesus, this is your second visit to Mumbai. How excited are you to perform? 

I am excited to be performing here again. I love the people here, I love the culture and how everybody is so welcoming. I'm so grateful that India has been one of the countries that follow me the most on Instagram and they appreciate the art that God put in my hands.

Have you tried Indian food and experienced Indian culture? 

I'm trying all the food now. Last time I couldn't explore, but this time I'm exploring more and have three extra days after the show. So I'm going to go to every good place for food, everywhere I can, try every single Indian food. Since I arrived on Wednesday, I've been trying a few places and it's amazing. The thing is, I don't know the name of the dish I eat, but once I have more time, I will make a note of it (laughs). I didn't taste anything that was weird to me though. The spiciness is the only issue, but I can handle spicy (food).

Moving on to your music, you released an album, ‘Selah’, last year. The album captures your spiritual approach to music in 10 instrumental songs on piano and sax. Why did you decide on making an album with a spiritual angle? 

To me, every song has a stage in my life. ‘Selah’ is an expression, it's a Hebrew expression, which says stop and listen. ‘Selah’ is an album that I dedicate to music. It's a love letter to music. So every song represents a stage in my life and how music can heal my life while I'm playing it.

On that note, are you a spiritual person? 

I don't want to get religious, but I strongly believe in God. God gave me this gift. People, when they come to see me, they are not seeing me. They are seeing the gift that God gave me and this gift that I am responsible to share to the world. Some artists think everything is about themselves. They think that everything is about their talent. Without that talent, they are nobody. By the end of the day, talent is the thing that makes them big. But talent is the one that should have the credit. And who gives (that) talent? God gave me the talent. All my music is dedicated back to Him. For me, it's such a privilege and opportunity to be an ambassador of my culture as a Colombian. But the most important thing than being an ambassador, is the gift that God gave to me.

Can you share your story of self-discipline that you went through during your gastric sleeve surgery in 2018? 

You will be surprised by what my doctor told me. He said Jesus, you're going to die if you don't do this surgery. You have a liver disease that could be developing. If you don't do something, then you have to stop eating. He recommended that I take this gastric sleeve. After doing that, everything changed in my life. From XXL, I came to S and M, which to me is insane. I was so happy and honored to get my body back to good health. It has been 8 years now that I've been maintaining good health which is really hard.

Musically, how has this change of lifestyle affected you?

I feel better in my mental health. I feel I breathe better. When you breathe better, you think better. So definitely, that's what it is.

Your life changed when you heard the music of Canadian Oscar Peterson. What was it that struck you when you listened to his music that made you want to concentrate on the piano? 

It was the challenge that this music put me to. This challenge that you got to practice, if not, you are done. So practicing every single day, putting all of these things together, that's the thing that made me fall in love with his music. I also liked the music of jazz legends like Chick Corea, Earl Gardner, pop influences like Jesus Adrian Romero, and many other artists that changed my life musically.

How did the switch from piano to sax and then back to piano happen? 

I started with the piano actually. Then I decided to learn sax because my mom said, you know what, you should be a sax player. My mom is not a musician, but I still learnt the instrument. I am the first musician in the family to get into music. But soon I found out that I need to switch to piano again, because the piano gives me more options. Sax is great, but it's too limited.

Did you take any training while you were learning the piano? 

Yes, I came to Berklee College of Music at the age of 17 and graduated from there. They gave me a full scholarship for my entire career. So it was a blessing with the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation and support from Dominican singer - composer Juan Luis Guerra. 

At your performances, you sing, you play the piano, and also the sax. Which of the three do you love the most? 

Well, every instrument gives me a different perspective. But the most important thing is if I can master the three of them, that's important. The one I love the most definitely is the piano, because piano is music itself. 

Would you say it's been a smooth road for you all these years? 

Maintaining myself on a stage, creating, always thinking that I should do the best.

You have worked with Indian musicians like Purbayan Chatterjee, Mohini Dey and Sarthak Mudgal. Anyone else in India you'd like to work with? 

Indian musicians are incredible people, incredible human beings, very unique. They are very professional and very talented in what they do. I am looking forward to collaborating with singer Jubin Nautiyal. We've been exchanging some messages. He’s such an incredible artist. I don't know about any collaboration yet, but probably at some point, I think we will connect and do something together. Not on this trip, but maybe later.

You're known for your speed while playing the piano. What is the secret?

Practicing is the secret. That is a skill that you can develop. That's the only way to do it. 

Any Indian movies you watched? 

Actually, plenty of them. But I don't know the names by heart, but there is one person…. (mimics his voice…..pauses a while and searches on YouTube and then blurts out). His name is Shankar Mahadevan. He did something with the Berklee Indian Ensemble and believe me it was amazing.

What advice would you give to a budding pianist?

Keep practicing. Keep making music that is interesting. Don't follow stereotypes. Jazz has a huge stereotype where it's the old guys with the suits playing swing all day long. That's not jazz. Jazz is a lifestyle, more than a music style. If you make it interesting and you start fusing it and make it interesting for the people and making people happy out of this incredible style that for the years we have had, that's exactly what we should do.