From Kansas City Magazine’s Music Editor:

Isaiah Petrie is taking the jazz scene by storm

Isaiah Petrie’s introduction to playing jazz and the vibraphone came about as a pragmatic need for another credit during his senior year of high school. The decision would prove to be a game-changer, expanding his musical horizons in ways he didn’t anticipate.

“It just went from there,” Petrie says.

Growing up in a musical family deeply rooted in the church, Petrie’s musical education began by playing the drum set alongside his kin in a sacred space. Petrie then dove deep into classical percussion throughout high school, falling in love with playing marimba, a musical instrument that consists of wooden bars that are struck with mallets. He enrolled at Kansas State with plans to study classical music.

“I had a shifting point my sophomore year,” Petrie says. “I was kind of tired of classical music. What I was composing and improvising on marimba was more along the lines of the kind of stuff I’m playing today.”

The following year, Petrie transferred to UMKC’s Conservatory to home in on jazz. Now, the vibraphonist, who will graduate this spring, is preparing for his academic journey’s finale with an upcoming senior performance. But Petrie is doing more than just orchestrating a final recital. He is hard at work refining his musical voice, intentionally pushing boundaries and etching a name for himself as one of the most promising emerging artists in KC’s jazz scene.

Excerpt from Kansas City Magazine’s Article by KCM’s Music Editor, Nina Cherry.