JASON  KAO  HWANG
composer • violin • viola

By constantly alternating the density of the orchestrations, Hwang suggests different scenarios that correspond to transformative states of mind. The thrills of spontaneity come from individual statements but also from interspersed interlocutions with two or three musicians. After all, this is music of exploration and reflection. -  Felipe Freitas, jazztrail.net,

The enormity of emotions, the multiplicity of ecstasy and the almost ecstatic parts of individual instruments, make the album "Blood" an exciting and captivating experience of each of the recipients open to new experiences. … "Blood" is not only a fascinating clash of Asian folklore with the free jazz formula, but also a unique show of virtuosity of each musician and an example of an ideal artistic correlation.  Robert Ratajczak, longplayrecenzje.blox  (google translation of Polish)

Available at Bandcamp, CD Baby and the Downtown Music Gallery

My thanks to the 2018 El Intruso International Critics Poll.

Grateful that Sing House was named one of the Best CDs of 2017 by Downbeat Magazine.

Sing House is  available at BandCamp and CD Baby!

I'm grateful to Giovanni Russonello for his 4/28 review of Sing House in the New York Tim

On Sing House from the Best Jazz on Bandcamp:

The breadth of influences that composer Jason Kao Hwang is able to call upon, and his willingness to leave wide open spaces within compositions for improvising, strikes the perfect balance between meticulous planning and breathless spontaneity. His newest, Sing House, falls in line with past experiments. “No Such Thing” provides ample, immediate evidence of that push-and-pull, with its turbulent bursts of avant-garde dissonance suddenly settling into joyful expressions of the blues. “Dream Walk” is a panoramic view of a host of musical forms, never fully adopting a single one, always sounding on the verge of phasing into another altogether. “When What Could” takes the opposite approach, allowing jazz forms to manifest with a charged immediacy, while leaving the transitions between each expression a bit fuzzy. It’s this kind of daring that makes a Hwang album so thrilling—that sense of sharp intelligence and creative courage. On his newest, the violinist-violist is joined by drummer Andrew Drury, bassist Ken Filiano, pianist Chris Forbes, and trombonist Steve Swell.