Tomeka Reid - composer, cello Mazz Swift - violin Jason Kao Hwang - viola Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello Silvia Bolognesi - string bass Peter Manau - guitar Mikel Patrick Avery - drums
My thanks to Downbeat Magazine's 2018 International Critics poll for voting for me. I wish to share this recognition with all the musicians I have played with, especially in my bands. We make music together!
Grateful that Sing House was named one of the Best CDs of 2017 by Downbeat Magazine.
Now available at BandCamp!
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.
I was violinist and co/composer with music director Jeff Song, and percussionists Yukio Tsuji and Josh Zieman of White Snake at Baltimore's Centerstage. It was a great run of 30 performances.
I led a string ensemble for the Arts for Art Benefit this past fall. We honored Billy Bang and Leroy Jenkins, playing their music.
Host Trudy Leong of WZRD/Chicago has been playing VOICE regularly for the past 6 months. Big thanks to Trudy Leong and Kate Smith! VOICE is comprised of two sets, Lifelines and Words of Our Own. Lifelines features Deanna Relyea (voice) and Piotr Michalowski (sopranino sax/bass clarinet) with my EDGE quartet: Taylor Ho Bynum - cornet/flugelhorn), Andrew Drury (drum set), Ken Filiano (string bass) and myself (composer/violin). Words of Our Own features Tom Buckner (voice), Joe McPhee (tenor sax/pocket trumpet), William Parker (string bass), Sang Won Park (kayagum/ajeng) and myself (composer/viola). We perform the poetry of Lester Afflick, Patricia Spears Jones, Davida Singer, Fay Chiang, Steve Dalachinsky and Yuko Otomo.
Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion, a superb show produced by the NY Historical Society, had a great run in NYC this past spring. I was honored to have scored music for the concluding video exhibit. The show is now part of the permanent exhibit at the Chinese Historical Society in San Francisco.
My sound design students at NYU Film created some great work this past semester!
Listen to Kevin Whitehead's review of Burning Bridge on National Public Radio's Fresh Air. Listen
Previous events
Adam Rudolph Go Organic Orchestra
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Music composed and improvisationally conducted by ADAM RUDOLPH
Over 30 musicians. I'll play violin.
Guillermo Gregorio - composer/ clarinet, Jason Kao Hwang - violin, Lester St. Louis - cello, Nicolas Letman - composer/ string bass
Patricia Parker's Resurrection Revolution Quintet
Dissident Arts Festival at Shapeshifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Patricia Parker, Jason Jordan - dance Jason Kao Hwang - violin/ viola Michael T.A. Thompson - drum set Bill Mazza - live video painting
Jason Kao Hwang/ Sing House
Andrew Drury - drum set, Ken Filiano - string bass, Chris Forbes - piano, Steve Swell - trombone, Jason Kao Hwang - composer/violin/viola
Jason Kao Hwang/ Amgydala
Red Hook Jazz Festival, Park on the Corner of President and Van Brunt St., Brooklyn, NY
Jason Kao Hwang - composer, violin, viola Rami Seo - gayageum (Korean zither) Michael Wimberly - djembe, percussion
Jason Kao Hwang: The Challenge, Tiananmen Square
Lovinger Theater, Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park West, West Bronx, NY
With this commission from the MultiCultural Music Group, this music, my first work for full orchestra, will honor and give voice to those who were killed in Tiananmen Square, to those were imprisoned, and to all who's belief in freedom still burns. Though China has attempted to eradicate the memory of Tiananmen Square, this history will not be forgotten.
- Jason Kao Hwang
Panel discussion: Dr. Rowena He, Mr. Fang Zheng, Dr. Luis Muniz, Jason Kao Hwang
Jason Kao Hwang/ Burning Bridge
Jason Kao Hwang - composer/violin Andrew Drury - drum set Ken Filiano - string bass Joe Daley - tuba Herb Robertson - cornet/ flugelhorn Sun Li - pipa Steve Swell - trombone Wang Guowei - erhu
This concert was made possible through a grant from U.S. Artists International. They are supported by the National Endowment of the Arts.
Burning Bridge was commissioned by Chamber Music America/ New Jazz Works.
Jason Kao Hwang/ Sing House
Jazz Shares at the Arts Block Cafe, 289 Main Street, Greenfield, MA 01301
Andrew Drury - drum set Ken Filiano - string bass Chris Forbes - piano Steve Swell - trombone Jason Kao Hwang - composer/ violin/ viola
Amygdala Rami Seo - gayageum Michael Wimberly - djembe/ percussion Jason Kao Hwang - composer/ violin/ viola
Sing House Andrew Drury - drum set Ken Filiano - string bass Chris Forbes - piano Steve Swell - trombone Jason Kao Hwang - composer/ violin/ viola
Andrew Drury - drum set Ken Filiano - string bass Chris Forbes - piano Steve Swell - trombone Jason Kao Hwang - composer/ violin/ viola