Jon Jang

[White Lightning]

I thought a thread about this excellent pianist and composer is in order.

Jang is creating an exciting fusion of Chino-African Jazz.

I enjoyed all of his discs I heard so far.

Two Flowers on a Stem with his African-Asian Sextet is incredible!

I also like his Pan-Asian Arketra discs:

I saw him last april in DC with Anthony Brown's Asian American orchestra. They were playing Ellington's Far East Suite, plus, as an encore - Come Sunday. Jon Jang played fantastically the intro on Come Sunday. He slowly created a gospel-spiritual atmosphere, then added some chinese music elements, and while doing so, he started playing more and more out. When he was totally out, he started blending in musical elements from Come Sunday. Boy, it was brilliant!

Anyone else share my love for Jang's playing?

[Green Dolphin]

I've been meaning to check out some of the Pan Asian Arkestra stuff for awhile,but agree with the verdict on "Two Flowers...",stunning.The only other I have is a lovely duo set with David Murray from 2002,"River Of Life" on Asianimprov,well worth checking out.

[B. Goren.]

Barak,

According to the AMG his styles are World Fusion & Avant-Garde Jazz. Since we share the same opinion about fusion I went to read again your post and your definition of his music is "fusion of Chino-African Jazz". I don't really understand the differences, but since you know my taste, do you think I'll like it??? Anyway, when I'll see you, you'll let me listen to some samples.

I have the feeling that "Tiananmen" that was recorded after the square slaughter should be very interesting.

Edited May 26, 2004 by B. Goren.

[Philip]

Tiannamen does indeed relate to the 1989 massacre, but the album relates to Chinese and the Chinese-American experience as a whole. If memory serves, only one track "Great Wall/Gold Mountain" could be called fusion in anything like the usual sense. The version of "Come Sunday" manages to fuse the familiar theme with elements of Max Roach's We Insist! - Freedom Now suite. Jang also name checks Mingus as an influence too, and this is appropriate, both in the agit-prop nature of the music and the importance of the bass in propelling the music forward.

The Arkestra reference is to Horace tapscott's unit as much as Sun Ra's.

[White Lightning]

The Arkestra reference is to Horace tapscott's unit as much as Sun Ra's.

I believe that indeed it was Tapscott's Arkestra rather than Sun Ra's Arkestra in Jang's mind when naming his Orchestra.

[White Lightning]

Since you know my taste, do you think I'll like it???

To the western ears, it may take some time to get used to the Chinese music vocabulary and instruments. After that, it's a sheer pleasure to those of us who enjoy the (political) works of Mingus, Roach, Tapscott etc. Jangs music is beautiful, and, in addition, socially motivated.

I believe you'll like it, especially "Self Defense"

[robviti]

the online magazine inmotion has two interviews with jon jang you might enjoy reading. here's a link to the magazine's interview page:

interviews with jon jang/james newton and jon jang/francis wong

Edited May 26, 2004 by jazzshrink

[Guy Berger]

Two Flowers on a Stem with his African-Asian Sextet is incredible!

This is the only one of Jang's that I own -- what a great album! James Newton is absolutely smokin' on this record.

Guy

[king ubu]

I heard him once with Max Roach's Bejing Trio. That was in November 2001, if I remember right. They played the closing night of the "jazznojazz" Zurich Jazz Festival - an awesome concert in many ways. Great interaction between Jang and Roach, also great and quite long duo passages by Jang/Roach. Then solo parts, too. A fascinating, if sound-wise sometimes a bit weird and unusual, concert.

Roach was really on that night.

ubu

[JohnS]

Two Flowers on a Stem with his African-Asian Sextet is incredible!

This is the only one of Jang's that I own -- what a great album! James Newton is absolutely smokin' on this record.

Guy

Absolutely.

[Big Wheel]

Yeah, that version of Meditations on Integration is a killer. It's often hard for me to focus on the rest of the album after I hear it, though. The Far East Suite take is also very nice.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is NEVER GIVE UP, which I picked up cheap at Tower one day. Some of the tracks don't do it for me (there is a spoken word poem against the WWII internment that I don't find very interesting) but the version of A Night In Tunisia is very cool with Fred Ho on bari.