Jason Kao Hwang & Spontaneous River
"Symphony of Souls"
$13.99 | CD | Catalog #MUT022
MP3s:
excerpts from
Movement 3
Movement 7
Movement 9
Jason Kao Hwang's Spontaneous River, based in New
York City, is an orchestra of 37 string improvisers plus drum set. It
is only in recent years that more and more string players have engaged
in the art of improvisational music. Spontaneous River is an ensemble
and a community that represents this emerging movement. The power of
Spontaneous River is drawn from both the sonic unity of strings and
the undeniable individualism of each musician's "voice."
Jason's composition, Symphony of Souls is a
spontaneous flow of notated passages and conducted improvisations that
sing stories of life journey through an abundant sound emanating from
blues, jazz, classical and world sources. Thomas Stanley writes in the
liner notes, "The orchestra is then summoned to explore soul as both a
nexus of dialog and as the motive force compelling action and
interaction".
"I felt in this one unified sound, I could hear the voice of each
soul," Jason recalls, "The music was a whole tree, but you could hear
each individual leaf in motion."
Composer, Conductor, Violin: Jason Kao Hwang
Violin: Trina Basu, Sarah Bernstein, Charles Burnham,
Julianne Carney, Fung Chern Hwei, Mark Chung, Rosi Hertlein, Jason Kao
Hwang, Gwen Laster, Marlene Rice, Dave Soldier, Curtis Stewart, Midori
Yamamoto, Helen Yee
Viola: Leanne Darling, Nicole Federici, Judith
Insell, Eric Salazar, David Wallace
Cello: Martha Colby, Loren Dempster, Daniel Levin,
Tomas Ulrich, Shanda Wooley
Acoustic Guitar: Cristian Amigo, Bradley Farberman,
James Keepnews, Dom Minasi, David Ross, Tor Snyder, Hans Tammen
String bass: Michael Bisio, Ken Filiano, Francois
Grillot, Clifton Jackson, Tom Zlabinger, James Ilgenfritz
Drum set: Andrew Drury
"Chromed intervals and experimental improvisations characterize Symphony
of Souls, a title which appropriately suits the album. The
musicians communicate freely and within structured models inspiring
creative ideas to surface and engulf the listener in the group's
communicative process. Hwang shows the versatility inherent in string
instruments moving them beyond the orchestral realm. " Susan Frances,
Yahoo
"FIVE STARS! Jason Kao Hwang is a unique artist. He is a composer and
an conductor and violinist and he is one of the frontrunners in
creative jazz. His technique focuses
on improvisation and not only as a performer, but also as a composer.
With the
talent he holds he could easily branch into the Classical Music field
- and actually
that is exactly what he has accomplished: he melds the jazz idiom with
classical
music structure and creates works such as this SYMPHONY OF SOULS."
Grady Harp, Amazon.
More about Jason Kao Hwang