Jazz Articles about Jason Kao Hwang

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge

by Jerry D'Souza
May 28, 2006

Jason Kao Hwang is on the edge not only with this recording, but with his band as well. Both share the name, and the reason becomes apparent when listening to the record.

Hwang nestles comfortably in a wide range of genres while exploring this musical journey. The violinist has created works that have the harmony of jazz, the structure of chamber music, and the freedom of invention; all show an expansive, yet focused vision and use structure to varying degrees. ...

Jason Kao Hwang: Graphic Evidence

by Rex Butters
May 20, 2006

A member of the Anthony Braxton Sextet and the Reggie Workman Ensemble, as well as a performer with Pauline Oliveros and the Deep Listening Band, William Parker, Sirone and Billy Bang, Jason Kao Hwang brings his well-traveled violin to Graphic Evidence, a collaborative performance with soprano saxophonist Frances Wong and bassist Tatsu Aoki. On this perfect disc for a winter's day, the ensemble uses space as a fourth member, producing music of understatement and openness.

To The Endless Embrace of ...

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge

by Kurt Gottschalk
April 8, 2006

Violinist and composer Jason Kao Hwang has an unusual ability to create compositions that seem as if they're falling together by happenstance. Through the '90s he led the Far East Side Band, with Sang-Won Park, Joseph Daley and Satoshi Takeishi, working out a hybrid of Downtown improv and traditional Asian musics. The band never came off as a fusion, but rather a leisurely, happy coincidence: a byproduct of living in a crowded, international city.

That group disbanded in 2004 and ...

Jason Kao Hwang/Francis Wong/Tatsu Aoki: Graphic Evidence

by Kurt Gottschalk
November 2, 2005

Violinist Jason Kao Hwang has sought to meld American jazz and blues with motifs from the Far East for years, most notably on his excellent 1990 release Unfolding Stone (Sound Aspects). Now, with a group all of Asian descent, Hwang has entered a more fully Asiatic idiom, leaving the particularly American vocabularies behind for something more universal. The trio is comprised of Western instruments--Francis Wong plays soprano saxophone and Tatsu Aoki upright bass--but it's also supplemented by ...