Jazz Articles

Bradley Parker-Sparrow: The New World

by Mark Corroto
November 13, 2009

It's possible that this improvised session was months in the making, as emails and telephone calls were made and returned to discuss the theme of pianist Bradley Parker-Sparrow's The New World. But, then again with improvisers of this quality this concept album might just as remarkably been laid down with a with a few nods, winks, and hand gestures.

The first nine of eleven tracks coalesce into the theme inspired by Antonín Dvořák's 1893 “New World Symphony," inspired by the ...

Fred Anderson Quartet: Live at the Velvet Lounge Volume III

by Jeff Stockton
June 1, 2009

Fred Anderson's sound on tenor can be heard in his stance. With his horn hung on a harness that looks like something a moving man would wear as he prepares to hoist a TV, Anderson bends his knees and hunches over as if muscle more than breath is needed to lift the notes into the air. He doesn't double on other instruments. His improvising vocabulary is drawn from a series of exercises he's developed over the decades and keeps in ...

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge

by Rex Butters
August 20, 2006

Violinist Jason Kao Hwang gathers a startling quartet to record Edge. Joining him on the front line is cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, his colleague in SpiderMonkey Strings and a fellow Anthony Braxton alumnus. Like Hwang, Bynum has left his mark on some of the premier ensembles of our time, including a tenure with Cecil Taylor. The rhythm sections boasts 9 Winds anchorman Ken Filiano, a mainstay of Vinny Golia's ensembles, and drummer Andrew Drury, late of Wadada Leo Smith and ...

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge

by Troy Collins
June 23, 2006

Edge is the self-titled debut of violinist Jason Kao Hwang's new all-star quartet. Joined by cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum (Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor), bassist Ken Filiano and experimental percussionist Andrew Drury, Hwang sets aside his seminal, decade-old Far East Side Band for this new venture. Exploring the edges of different genres (hence the name) with subtle East Asian touches, Edge draws inspiration from a number of divergent styles on the album's four intricate long-form pieces. ...

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 ...

Bobby Bradford/Francis Wong/William Roper: Purple Gums

by Rex Butters
August 25, 2003

The San Francisco-based Asian Improv label continues to release remarkable sessions with Purple Gums, a wind trio with Bobby Bradford, William Roper, and Francis Wong. The resulting disc shows a band deeply attuned to each other's whims, and skillful in extending musical conversations.

"Baleen and Porpoises" begins with Roper's low notes on tuba. Bradford enters with a cornet fanfare, then Wong, and the two of them chase each other like pups. Roper's round smooth tone and fluency makes him an ...

Vijay Iyer: Panoptic Modes

by Joel Roberts
December 1, 2001

Although Vijay Iyer has a Ph.D. in music and cognitive science, his dazzling new CD, Panoptic Modes , shows the New York-based pianist more focused on spiritual concerns than purely intellectual ones.

Melding Vedic chant and South Indian rhythms with the more obvious influences of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Iyer creates a unique and vibrant sound, but one that's highly accessible and solidly within the progressive end of the jazz spectrum. The most direct comparison that comes to mind ...