Helen Sung

[Ken Dryden]

Today I interviewed pianist Helen Sung for a Hot House feature in July. She will be leading a big band with a number of well known artists at William Paterson on July 11.

[Rooster_Ties]

Helen is really great! I’ve heard her live 6 or 8 times — half here in DC, half back in KC (and sometimes as a ‘sideman’ in other people’s bands, backing Greg Tardy for one, iirc).

I like to think of her playing coming out of somewhere similar to Kenny Barron, Mulgrew Miller, John Hicks, and maybe a bit of Stanley Cowell (I’m glad to hear in anyone thinks my ears are on backwards on any of that — and I welcome hearing contrary feedback on that.)

And I find her hand Independence especially nice too — as strong on that count as Brad Mehldau (if she comes from somewhere quite different).

Her extensive classical background — she was exclusivity a classical pianist thru her entire undergrad studies until like midway thru her senior year — and my hunch has always been that that accounts for her hand-independence strengths.

I think I’ve got about 5 discs of hers too, iirc — and she’s a non-miss performer whenever I see she’s in town.

[Ken Dryden]

I discovered that I never got around to buying the Brother Thelonious Quintet CD and I just learned of her LP with Marquis Hill doing research for the interview. She was a fun guest, though I was fighting technical issues as I tried to begin the I review that were getting very close to The Twlight Zone episode “A Thing About Machines,” probably caused in part from the insomnia following my surgery last month.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Ken Dryden