JASON KAO HWANG - Soliloquies 

Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

8/29/24

JASON KAO HWANG - Soliloquies - Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations (Tone Science TS 05; USA) Featuring Jason Kao Hwang on solo violin. Going back more than three decades, improvising violinist Jason Hwang has been leading bands and collaborating with the elders like Billy Bang, William Parker and Joseph Daley. I’ve been a longtime fan of Mr. Hwang’s ever since having heard him playing in the late loft jazz days/early Downtown Scene. Each of Mr. Hwang's varied projects/bands is quite different and hence each of his more than a dozen discs are well worth hearing. Recently Mr. Hwang asked if he could play here at DMG for a solo set to celebrate the release of this solo offering, his first violin effort. What’s interesting is that Mr. Hwang is playing exclusively pizzicato violin which means that it is are plucked notes and not bowed, a unique way to play the violin and go beyond certain limitations of this method. Mr. Hwang seems to be taking his time here, concentrating on one theme at a time, sometimes plucking individual strings or playing chords. Hwang slows down on “Where the River Runs Both Ways”, playing what sounds like a fragment of an old familiar melody. It takes some time to adjust to just hearing the plucked strings here. There is a sense of calm exploration going on here that I do like. Check out the short segment on Mr. Hwang’s solo set here at DMG when I place it on the DMG InstaGram account in the next few days. - Bruce Lee Gallanter at DMG