The Grammy Awards
For Your Consideration
Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Best Liner Notes
REVIEWS
The result is a complex, but gripping, continuous ensemble performance of what the liner notes call “28 staged scenes,” tracked in five sections… Sudden unisons, processional marches, fiercely swinging passages and improvisatory features for the band loom from Hwang’s carefully-scored explorations of texture. Both the instrumentation and the material unite west and east, reflecting Hwang’s Asian American heritage. – John Sharpe, All About Jazz
…the impassioned interactions among unorthodox instrumental combinations demonstrate how a collective ideology can transcend apparent differences… By varying arrangements, Hwang implies an array of cinematic scenarios that equate with different states of mind. While many artists would compose a finale of harmonic resolution, Hwang remains steadfast, driving the point home by sonically suggesting that the lingering effects of violence never abate, nor serve any greater purpose. If there is any hope to be found here, it is in the perseverance of the human spirit. – Troy Collins, Point of Departure
Violinist, composer Jason Kao Hwang and many of his band-mates are among the leading exponents of the new jazz, where disparate genres coalesce, often in seamless fashion to nurture our imaginative inclinations in such a way that standard idioms and classifications go by the wayside… And Daley aims for the stars during his fierce, super-speed solo on “Declarations,” underscored by Hwang’s twirling lines and the ensemble’s impassioned statements and simmering narratives. Overall, it’s a striking presentation that may take two or three listens to fully digest. – Glen Astarita, All About Jazz
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More Info and Liner Notes
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Jason Kao Hwang/Burning Bridge
Jason Kao Hwang – composer/violin
Taylor Ho Bynum – cornet/flugelhorn
Joseph Daley – tuba
Andrew Drury – drum set
Ken Filiano – string bass
Sun Li – pipa
Steve Swell – trombone
Wang Guowei – erhu
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