Hwang, Jason Kao
Innova, 2016, CD
Instrument: Violin
Issue: 22.1
Jazz Ruler Type: R&B+Jazz
Performance: 3
Sound: 3
Score: 
O’s Notes: Composer Jason Kao Hwang’s latest project is a rather ambitious adventure inspired by poetry and expressed in music and vocals. It is divided into two movements: (1) Lifelines, featuring Hwang’s (violin) EDGE band with Taylor Ho Bynum (horns), Andrew Drury (d), Ken Filiano (b), Piotr Michalowski (sax, cl) and Deanna Relyea (voice) and (2) Words of Our Own, with Thomas Buckner (voice), Joe McPhee (sax, t), William Parker (b), Sang Won Park (perc, voice) and Hwang on viola. Fay Chiang, Steve Dalachinsky, Patricia Spears Jones, Yuko Otomo, Davida Singer, and the late Lester Afflick wrote the lyrics/spoken words. VOICE is more like a stage production than Hwang’s usual instrumentals. There is a lot of spontaneous emotion captured here in a set that begs repeated listening to capture full depth.
Publicist: Jazz Promo Services