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Jo-Yu Chen: Savage Beauty
by Angelo Leonardi
La brava pianista taiwanese allieva di Kenny Barron e Jason Moran è tornata a incidere dopo quattro anni di silenzio, confermando il suo valore e le linee di fondo della sua estetica. Anche in quest'album Jo-Yu Chen aggiunge al suo stabile trio un ospite (Mark Turner prende il posto di Kurt Rosenwinkel) e conferma la co-produzione con Aaron Parks. Una piccola sorpresa viene dal look trendy e un po' sexy che la pianista mostra nelle foto in copertina ...
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by Dan McClenaghan
The cover art of pianist Jo-Yu Chen's fourth album, Savage Beauty, is provocative and beautiful. So is the music. There is a sense of a stepping up of the game," in terms of public persona and artistry. Chen has always taken the physical productthe hard copy of her CDsseriously, beginning with her debut, Obsession (Sony Music Taiwan, 2009), through Incomplete Soul (Sony Music, 2012), then Stranger (Okeh, 2014). On Savage Beauty she embraces an over-the-top glamor mode in this regard, ...
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by Angelo Leonardi
Messasi in luce qualche anno fa con due ricercati lavori in piano trio per la Sony Music (Obsession e My Incomplete Soul) la pianista taiwanese Jo-Yu Chen, allieva di Kenny Barron, Jason Moran e Sam Yahel, pubblica il suo terzo disco confermando i partner ed entrando nella sussidiaria Okeh, storica etichetta molto attenta ai giovani talenti. Questo lavoro conferma il tocco limpido, il fraseggio cantabile, la sapienza armonica e l'attenzione della pianista per raffinati equilibri sonori ma ...
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by Dan Bilawsky
The title of pianist Jo-Yu Chen's third album refers to strangers of two different sorts: those who were once strangers but became part of Chen's life, and those who took the reverse course. Chen notes that as a Taiwanese artist living in New York, she's often felt like a stranger herself. That may be the case, but her music never betrays that fact; she plays like an insider looking out, not the other way around. Stranger finds ...
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by Dan McClenaghan
The short version of pianist Jo-Yu Chen's biography: Born in Taiwan, started with music in the classical realm, moved to New York to study oboe and piano at Julliard School, and fell under the spell of jazz. That's not an unusual back story in the world of jazz, with the exception of her Taiwanese roots. The pianist self-produced two CDs, Obsession (Sony Music Taiwan, 2010) and My Incomplete Soul (Sony Music, 2011), and now--as the first Taiwanese jazz artist signed ...
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by Dan Bilawsky
Japanese musicians get most of the ink when jazz sights turn to Asian-born wonders, but pianist Jo-Yu Chen is proof that Taiwan has its fair share of homegrown talent. Chen has been making waves over the past few years, self-releasing her Sam Yahel-produced debut, joining the fold as a Steinway Artist and, most recently, signing with Sony Music Taiwan. On Obsession, she shows no signs of slowing down, on a something-for-everyone program that can keep people guessing ...
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by AAJ Italy Staff
Giunta al secondo disco, la pianista taiwanese conferma e perfeziona quanto aveva espresso nel precedente Obsession. Stessi partner e stesso produttore (Sam Yahel) per un lavoro nuovamente ricercato, in cui il talento strumentale si lega a quello compositivo. In Incomplete Soul troviamo sette temi a suo nome, tre momenti liberamente improvvisati, due motivi pop taiwanesi ("Chess" e Red Bean") e un tema folk cinese. Segnali di vicinanza al proprio ambito culturale che la pianista sembra voler confermare sia evitando d'interpretare ...
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