June 11, 2020
The Sound of Justice and Jazz, Livestreamed Tonight
Midweek and more to go, which calls for a boost of music, on offer at 8 p.m. ET today, when jazz violinist Jason Kao Hwang’s Human Rites Trio livestreams a performance rooted in themes of collective justice, compassion, and celebration of life. If “jazz violin” evokes for you the uptempo swing, orchestral blues, and virtuosic bebop of the great Regina Carter, it needn’t; Hwang’s style, equally moving, is marked by wide-open texture, harmonic expansion, and rhythmic looseness, not conventional idioms, but it’s still tethered to melody and beats. This is improvisational music as free as the United States could be, if only we could hear it. Tonight’s livestream marks the release of the trio’s debut album, with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Andrew Drury. Anytime before the performance, catch Hwang’s reflection on the COVID-19 lockdown, the lives of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, and the source of Hwang’s inspiration and joy. - Daniel King, motherjones.com