Jazz Articles about Jason Kao Hwang

About Jason Kao Hwang

Album Review

Jason Kao Hwang / Human Rites Trio: Second Life

Read "Second Life" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
October 19, 2026

Violinist and composer Jason Kao Hwang has spent much of his career moving between jazz, contemporary composition, and free improvisation, often blurring the distinctions between them. His Human Rites Trio with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer/percussionist Andrew Drury first recorded together on Human Rites Trio (True Sound Recordings, 2020), though the three have worked together in other settings over the years. Their follow-up, Second Life, contains four extended Hwang compositions that leave plenty of room for improvisation while still giving ...

Album Review

Jason Kao Hwang: Myths of Origin

Read "Myths of Origin" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
August 20, 2025

Violinist and composer Jason Kao Hwang has worked with groups of every size, from duos up to full orchestras. “Myths of Origin" is one of his large-scale pieces, an imposing 42-minute work for an improvising string orchestra and drum set. It runs without interruption, but the recording breaks it down into nine sections. The music starts slowly, rising in a mass of seething bowed strings with a slight trace of Asian melody. It progresses into a dense cloud ...

Album Review

Jason Kao Hwang: Soliloquies, Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations

Read "Soliloquies, Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
June 24, 2025

Violinist Jason Kao Hwang is the kind of collaborator every creative improviser dreams of having. His résumé reads like a who's who of avant-garde jazz, including partnerships with Butch Morris, Henry Threadgill, William Parker, Ivo Perelman, Anthony Braxton, and Steve Swell, among others. Hwang's musical versatility and deeply intuitive improvisational sensibility have made him a sought-after voice across a wide spectrum of exploratory music. With Soliloquies, Hwang steps away from the dynamic interplay of ensemble work to present ...

Album Review

Jason Kao Hwang: Soliloquies, Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations

Read "Soliloquies, Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
June 16, 2025

Jason Kao Hwang is a child of Chinese immigrants, and previously recorded in Book of Stories (2023), Uncharted Faith (2022), and Human Rites Trio(2022), a CD completed during the Covid-19 pandemic. He places his music, on viola and violin, within the category of avant-garde-jazz-soul-folk. In the abstract, he calls his music “a celebration of life." Some might think his playing most akin to that of a mandolin, for that is the sound he conjures up. Fans ...

Album Review

Joëlle Léandre: Lifetime Rebel

Read "Lifetime Rebel" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
April 21, 2025

RogueArt presenta questo cofanetto di cinque dischi interamente dedicato alla figura della leggendaria contrabbassista francese Joëlle Léandre, documentando la sua presenza al Vision Festival 2023, tenutosi presso il Roulette di Brooklyn, e aggiungendovi un concerto tenutosi pochi mesi dopo in Francia ed un DVD con un video nel quale l'artista suona alcuni brani in solo durante un'intervista in cui parla della sua carriera. Il primo disco, registrato appunto al Vision Festival il 13 giugno 2023, vede all'opera il ...

Album Review

Joëlle Léandre: Lifetime Rebel

Read "Lifetime Rebel" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 25, 2024

Joëlle Léandre is the definition of a force of nature. She is unstoppable, unforgettable, and full of boundless energy. It is the nature of her force that recordings like Lifetime Rebel attempt to capture. These four CDs--plus an interview and solo performance DVD--capture a moment, but just a moment of her inexhaustible spirit, before she moves on. Recorded in 2023, Léandre was honored with a lifetime achievement award during New York's Vision Festival. The performances captured are by diverse and ...

Album Review

Dino Duo: J.A. Deane & Jason Kao Hwang: Uncharted Faith

Read "Uncharted Faith" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 22, 2023

The idiosyncratic nature of Jason Kao Hwang's work lends itself to a broad range of collaborative possibilities. Uncharted Faith, a duo recording with electronics artist J.A. Deane, is unique because of both its experimental essence and its personal backstory. Deane (aka, Dino) lost his life-partner in 2019 and went into wooded seclusion to finish a book. The composer & violinist Hwang and Deane had discussed a project and the latter requested some Hwang material to improvise around. On only two ...