Dez Thompkins sold his only piano when he was sixteen years old to raise money for a trip to Japan for a Peace Cultural Festival. There was no guarantee of a spot, but he had to have the money to just apply.

Ultimately, he was able to attend, and met representatives from over 50 countries, brought together in an effort to learn about each other for the purpose of peace. “One of the most important things for teenagers,” says Dez, “is to find challenges and rise to meet them.”

The festival was organized by the Soka Gakkai International group — a Buddhist-based organization of which Dez is a member in Louisville. That exposure to travel abroad became the third cornerstone in the triumvirate of Dez’s value system; which after meeting him for just a few minutes can be determined as music, Buddhist practice, and a love of people and cultures.

Dez trained at the Youth of Performing Arts School in music at Manual and uses that training to teach lessons, as well as to produce some of the Kentucky talent that seeks him out.

He has recorded the Nappy Roots (on Atlantic Records), KD, and the ’Villebillies, and he recorded Nicole Scherzinger’s first demo (of the Pussy Cat Dolls). He is also working on a documentary — simply about “people,” he says —called Fabric of Humanity. “The common denominator,” says Dez, “is composition . . . how you arrange things in your life and how they fit together.”

“Each element contributes to the whole,” he continues, “and that can be positive or negative . . . because negativity is part of life. You can always see the immediate connection of a negative gesture and even measure it in terms of how many people it affects. However, I believe that positive gestures can also be measured mathematically but their effects last even longer. Negativity eventually fades out.”

Beginning with Pythagoras, studies have proven that music and math complement each other. Perhaps Dez can be listed as a learned example.