Jason Kao Hwang New Release With Karl Berger + Upcoming Live Appearances

Now Available on Bandcamp!

Karl Berger (composer/piano/vibraphone) is a six-time winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll as a jazz soloist, recipient of numerous Composition Awards, including commissions by the NEA, NYSCA, the Rockefeller Foundation, and many European radio and television stations. He recorded and performed internationally with Don Cherry, Lee Konitz, John McLaughlin, Gunther Schuller, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Ingrid Sertso, Dave Holland, Ed Blackwell, Ray Anderson, Carlos Ward, Pharoah Sanders, Blood Ulmer, Hozan Yamamoto and many others. Founder and director of the Creative Music Foundation, Inc., and creative leader of the Creative Music Studio, Karl’s recordings and arrangements appear on the Atlantic, Axiom, Black Saint, Blue Note, Capitol, CBS, Columbia Double Moon, and many others.

The music of Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) explores the vibrations and language of his existence through compositions of transformative journeys.  He currently leads the octet Burning Bridge, quintet Sing House, and the Critical Response and Human Rites trios. In 2019, 2013 and 2012 the El Intruso Jazz Critics Poll voted him Violinist of the Year. The 2012 DownBeat Critics’ Poll voted Mr. Hwang as Rising Star for Violin.  As composer, Mr. Hwang has received support from Chamber Music America, US Artists International, and the NEA. As violinist, he has worked with William Parker, Tomeka Reid, Pauline Oliveros, Anthony Braxton, Butch Morris, Oliver Lake, Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Ivo Perlman, Patrick Brennan, and many others.

BLOOD is on the ballot for
the Grammy Awards in multiple categories.

For your consideration:
Best Jazz Instrumental 
Best Contemporary Instrumental
Best World Music
Best Liner Notes

Burning Bridge:  Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin), Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet/flugelhorn), Andrew Drury (drumset), Ken Filiano (string bass), Joesph Daley (tuba), Sun Li (pipa), Wang Guowei (erhu), Steve Swell (trombone)

Blood isn't an unscripted free jazz recording but rather an uncompromising, five-act creation comprised of twenty-eight scenes. Still, however through-composed it is, the set plays like an emergent force of nature with a will of its own…Hwang draws on the liberating spirit of jazz whilst also grounding the performances in defined structures.  – Ron Schepper, Textura.com

The enormity of emotions, the multiplicity of ecstasy and the almost ecstatic parts of individual instruments, make the album "Blood" an exciting and captivating experience of each of the recipients open to new experiences. … "Blood" is not only a fascinating clash of Asian folklore with the free jazz formula, but also a unique show of virtuosity of each musician and an example of an ideal artistic correlation.  Robert Ratajczak, longplayrecenzje.blo

Read all the reviews of Blood.
Purchase Blood at Bandcamp.

My full discography is available at Bandcamp