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Connie Han

Pianist and provocateur Connie Han has created an edgy blend of modern and traditional jazz with her incendiary Mack Avenue Records debut Crime Zone. Han explains, “This record is meant to be a statement about being rebellious but within the tradition.” At 23, Ms. Han is a young lioness on a fast-climbing trajectory to jazz stardom with rave reviews from The New York Times, Jazziz Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, and more. According to Downbeat Magazine, Han has “already absorbed the post-bop piano masters” with “all the technical mastery she’ll ever need.” The New York Times describes her as “the rare musician with fearsome technical chops, a breadth of historical knowledge and enough originality to write tunes that absorb your ear easily.” Influenced by post-bop masters Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, and Kenny Kirkland, Han brings a fire, passion, and maturity that belies her youth. All About Jazz states, “With this album she’s booking a place as a star in the jazz firmament of tomorrow. Watch out for Connie Han, the face (and shape) of jazz to come.”

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11
Album Review

Connie Han: Secrets of Inanna

Read "Secrets of Inanna" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


If, when first pressing play on Connie Han's charismatic Secrets of Inanna, you think you have stumbled upon a previously unheard Chick Corea tune with Hubert Laws at its heart and soul, it is okay, calm down, relax. It is just pianist Han (with the help of soulful alto flute and piccolo by Katisse Buckingham ) setting the feisty vibe of drummer/producer collaborator Bill Wysaske's “Prima Materia," and getting her head primed for the meteor's tail to follow.

12
Album Review

Connie Han: Iron Starlet

Read "Iron Starlet" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


At the 2019 Detroit Jazz Festival, pianist Connie Han dazzled the crowd with a superb and well-paced set which was one of the best performances of the weekend. Although her Mack Avenue debut, Crime Zone, had hit the streets in 2018, Han's musical acumen was still hovering below the radar of most jazz listeners. The key to Han's refreshing approach is that she operates in a zone that respects the lexicon while also finding new territory of its own to ...

6
Album Review

Connie Han: Iron Starlet

Read "Iron Starlet" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


A decisively brazen talent, pianist Connie Han rushes into the fire touched off by her 2018 Mack Avenue debut Crime Zone, bringing more accelerant to bear on Iron Starlet.With an exhilarating control of her skills and vision and an intimate clairvoyance into all that has come before her, Han bids trumpeter Jeremy Pelt the opening fanfare for the album's flag track, thus clearing headspace for Han, bassist Ivan Taylor and drummer/producer/musical director Bill Wysaske to swoop in like ...

1
Album Review

Connie Han: Crime Zone

Read "Crime Zone" reviewed by Chris Mosey


Connie Han, dressed in skin-tight leather, tosses back her long and lustrous black hair, then walks like a prowling cat to the piano. She sits down, doesn't smile, looks darkly at the keyboard. She pauses then starts playing a percussive riff. Lights! The band emerges from the shadows and falls in behind her. Han, aged 22, from Los Angeles, has been playing piano and dreaming of this moment since she was five years old. “Another Kind of ...

5
Live Review

Connie Han Trio at Smoke Jazz Club

Read "Connie Han Trio at Smoke Jazz Club" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Connie Han Trio Smoke Jazz Club New York, NY October 4, 2018 Combustible is the first word that sprung to mind as pianist Connie Han opened her first set by spring loading her wily rhythm-mates, bassist Edwin Livingston and drummer/musical director Bill Wysaske through a twisty, bop energy homage to Freddie Hubbard, which, as she explained in her opening intros, she had recently composed. After some humorous banter concerning her ...

2
Album Review

Connie Han: Crime Zone

Read "Crime Zone" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Twenty-two year old pianist Connie Han comes at you flashy, fast, and furious on her Mack Avenue debut Crime Zone. But it's flashy and fast with more than enough sense of history and creative curiosity to keep your ear pinned to whatever device you're listening on. “Another Kind of Right" jumps from the start with short staccato bursts from Han that implore her born-in-the-groove bassist Edwin Livingston and drummer/producer/mentor Bill Wysaske to leap into the fray with her. ...

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Genius Guide to Jazz

Rising Stars: The Beginning of the Han Dynasty

Read "Rising Stars: The Beginning of the Han Dynasty" reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius


As I write this, there is a government shutdown in effect due to a budget impasse. What that means to you, kids, is that I am free to do whatever the hell I want without the constrictive Federal Jazz Commission telling me what is and isn't appropriate material for this column. If I wanted to write an entire article about Art Tatum's left hand, for example, there'd be no one to stop me. I can finally stretch my legs as ...

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Concerts

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Secrets of Inanna

Mack Avenue Records
2022

buy

Iron Starlet

Mack Avenue Records
2020

buy

Crime Zone

Mack Avenue Records
2018

buy

Videos

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