TULSA, Okla. — Justin Echols will be performing at the Commerce Bar at Tulsa Club Hotel on Nov. 4. The performance begins at 8 p.m., and there will be no cover.
The Tulsa Club Hotel stated that Echols’ performance is one that you won’t want to miss.
Former soldier of the U.S. Army Reserves and Oklahoma City Police Officer Justin Elchols is an Emmy nominated, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame inductee.
Echols received serious injuries in a car accident while serving in the army reserves. After being discharged from the Army and enduring his severe physical limitations, he explained that a Harry Connick Jr. concert changed his life.
He decided that if he can’t be a police officer, then he wanted to do what Connick Jr. was doing — performing music.
Echols sang in the chorus for his church, but he never thought he’d make a career performing music.
In an episode of Gallery American, Echols explained, “I think, realistically, when you are in a state of exigence you are always going to fall back on your natural strengths. It’s all you have. And so, music was the natural gift, and I fell back on it, I fell into it.”
Echols taught music himself piano and recorded a demo CD that New York jazz mogul Wynton Marsalis heard, and Marsalis put Echols on a plane to New York City, NY.
He then spent the next five years studying under famed Italian pianist and jazz composer Antonio Ciacca. With these teachings, Echols was able to eventually perform alongside members of Connick Jr.’s band.
Since then, his music career has consisted of four world tours, seven CDs, a feature in Forbes magazine and more. In 2012, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was nominated for an Emmy for his story on a PBS special called “Meant to Be.”
Recently, Echols performed with Broadway star Kristin Chenowith. He’s done all of this while maintaining his full time job as a police officer in Oklahoma City.