Articles | Popular | Future
Jason Kao Hwang & Karl Berger: Conjure
On the ethereal and intimate Conjure, violinist Jason Kao Hwang and pianist-vibraphonist Karl Berger perform a set of eight improvised duets. Hwang was a member of Berger's Creative Music Orchestra, so the facility of their interaction is not surprising. The brilliant synergy between them, however, results in thought-provoking and thrillingly inventive music which moves with its deep lyricism. The crisp cascade of Berger's nocturnesque mallets opens the melancholic “Silhouettes." Hwang goes from pizzicato punctuations to eerily bent notes ...
read moreJason Kao Hwang & Burning Bridge: Blood
As the follow-up to his Burning Bridge octet's eponymous debut (Innova, 2012), violinist Jason Kao Hwang has created another ambitious and wide-ranging work. As befits the title Blood, it constitutes a personal meditation on weighty subject matter, precipitated by a narrowly-avoided car accident which caused Hwang to consider the wartime experiences of his mother in China. The result is a complex, but gripping, continuous ensemble performance of what the liner notes call “28 staged scenes," tracked in ...
read moreJason Kao Hwang - Burning Bridge: Blood
Violinist, composer Jason Kao Hwang and many of his band-mates are among the leading exponents of the new jazz, where disparate genres coalesce, often in seamless fashion to nurture our imaginative inclinations in such a way that standard idioms and classifications go by the wayside. And as the album title implicates, the underlying theme cascades into a five-act tome, based on the passion, mourning and aftershocks of war. In the album notes Hwang adds, “blood meditates upon the emotional traumas ...
read moreJason Kao Hwang: Sing House
Jason Kao Hwang stirs the melting pot with several stylistic approaches to his music. His contribution to the Asian stream has manifested itself well enough. His immersion in free jazz with an impressive voice for the unusual, adds a daring, eclectic presence. Hwang has worked with the members of his group in different conglomerations. The understanding between them is seen in their interaction which takes off in free flight on No Such Thing. Hwang sets the head before ...
read moreJason Kao Hwang: Sing House
From the earliest part of his solo career, violinist and composer Jason Kao Hwang has employed an eclectic blend of Western and Eastern influences. His recording roots were no less wide-ranging, beginning with Anthony Braxton's Sextet (Istanbul) (Braxton House, 1995), even if the influences were harder to pin down. Hwang later recorded with William Parker and then Henry Threadgill and Dominic Duval but as he progressed, his music was less married to a recognizable jazz language. He arranged and performed ...
read moreJason Kao Hwang: Sing House
Violinist/violist and composer Jason Kao Hwang has explored the intersections of avant-garde jazz and classical music for some time, and his commitment to drawing inspiration from the well of Asian musical idioms gives his pieces much of their distinctive character. Here he's working once again with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Andrew Drury, longstanding partners from his EDGE ensemble and Burning Bridge group, and trombonist Steve Swell, who's also played and recorded with Burning Bridge. Rounding out the band is ...
read moreFestival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville 2015, Part 1
Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville
read moreFeatured Video
Go: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive - RAGMALAFeaturing the music of Adam Rudolph
Contest Giveaway
ELIGIBLE WINNERS: 5 | DAYS REMAINING: 26
Prize: Ragmala: A Garland Of Ragas by Adam Rudolph
World music pioneer Adam Rudolph and his groundbreaking Go: Organic Orchestra join forces with Brooklyn Raga Massive to create the monumental new album, Ragmala – A Garland of Ragas (Meta Records). Ragmala bridges generations, cultures and traditions in a deep-rooted, forward-looking sound born of 21st-century innovation and hybrid voices. Epic in scale and ambition, the project features 40 world-class musicians including Gnawa master musician Hassan Hakmoun, legendary drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake, forward-thinking cornetist Graham Haynes, and tradition-blurring flutist...
Sign in to enter Sponsored by Adam Rudolph
