Jason Kao Hwang will perform music from his acclaimed solo album Soliloquies and premiere compositions for his new quintet, Resonance.
Soliloquies features pure improvisation that explores the silence of memories. Resonance will perform compositions that engage the synergy of written score and improvisation to simultaneously evoke the past, present, and future — a spiritual resonance that celebrates and heightens awareness of life’s essential feature, change.
Jason Kao Hwang’s music empowers the individuality of each musician. This performance will feature some of his oldest collaborators including Andrew Drury and Ken Filiano who have performed with him for the past twenty years; Chris Forbes who was a member of his Sing House Quintet; and Bryan Carrott who first performed with him in the 80’s with Butch Morris and was a member of one of Jason’s earliest groups, Glass Shadows.
Jason Kao Hwang composer/violin/viola
Andrew Drury drum set
Ken Filiano string bass
Bryan Carrott vibraphone
Chris Forbes piano
“Hwang’s approach to the violin in Soliloquies is transformative…Soliloquies stands as one of the most powerful musical and creative acts in recent years. …While his multifaceted career may defy easy categorization, time will likely cement his status as a pivotal figure in improvised music.” – Gian Paolo Galasi, Complete Communion
“The fascinating possibilities that Jason explores in these solo violin improvisations open new vistas into the autobiographical aspects of his own distinctive musical language, as developed and deployed in musically reimagined moments to bridge the cultural-historical gulf dividing his family’s first- and second-generation immigrant experiences…This majestically flawless, and wholly embodied new recording opens on the transformational, and aptly-titled At the Beginning.” – Anne Carlini
Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) has led ensembles that have performed globally, including at Vision Festival, Edgefest, Freer Gallery, Whitney Museum, International Festival Musique Actuelle (Canada), Moers Festival (Germany), and the Beijing International Jazz Festival. He has released more than a dozen recordings, most recently, the critically acclaimed Soliloquies, Book of Stores, Uncharted Faith, and the Human Rites Trio. The music of Jason Kao Hwang explores the vibrations of his history. Mr. Hwang did not learn Chinese from his immigrant parents, only English. When his parents spoke in Chinese to each other, he would listen intently to glean meaning from the inflection, pitch, rhythm, and timbre of their phrases. Hwang imagines this musical experience of the Chinese language as the foundation of his creative instincts. In 2020, 2019, 2018, 2013 and 2012, the El Intruso International Critics Poll voted him #1 for violin/viola. The 2012 Downbeat Critics’ Poll voted him as Rising Star for violin and has cited him annually since. He has worked with Henry Threadgill, William Parker, Anthony Braxton, Butch Morris, Reggie Workman, Steve Swell, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomeka Reid, Patrick Brennan, Karl Berger, Pauline Oliveros, and many others.
