Hyeseon Hong Jazz Orchestra – Things Will Pass

There aren’t that many Asian jazz musicians based in New York, and even fewer of them are women.

South Korean Hyeseon Hong is then more or less an exception, especially as on this second recording under her own name she mixes typically American compositions with others that sound distinctly Oriental.

At the head of an orchestra made up of Big Apple greats – the most famous of whom is undoubtedly veteran tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, who once played with the phalanx co-directed by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis – the conductor and composer demonstrates her inventiveness in blending timbres, contrasting dynamics, voicings and voice leads, which are always relevant…

The repertoire is skillfully varied, with a lively piece sung by a very convincing vocalist and another with a whistled melody, amidst other compositions that are either more lyrical or more pugnacious.

Served by first-rate soloists who play a full part in the elaboration of a sonic paste that is both sophisticated and smoothly harmonious, the leader has no difficulty in making her difference heard: an original voice that has carved its furrow in the lineage of modern big bands from across the Atlantic, while letting its Korean roots shine through. It’s also worth noting that, unlike some big bands that don’t hesitate to use their “striking force”, Hyeseon Hong succeeds in giving her orchestra a softness, a mellowness and a sensitive vibration that possess a heady charm.

This is no doubt the result of a feminine relationship with music, or a typically Asian form of discretion and restraint.

The fact remains that Things Will Pass leaves a lasting impression, and that we listen again and again with renewed pleasure to the beautiful compositions of a musician whose name we’ve no doubt not heard the last of.

Watch the Video here.

Line up :

Hyeseon Hong: composition, arrangement, direction, percussion

Ben Kono: soprano sax, alto sax, flutes

Alejandro Aviles: alto sax and flute

Rich Perry: tenor sax

Quinsin Nachoff: tenor sax, clarinet

Andrew Hadro: baritone sax, bass clarinet

John Lake, David Smith, Colin Brigstocke, Jonathan Saraga: trumpet, flugelhorn

Mike Fahie, Daniel Linden, Nick Grinder, Becca Patterson: trombone

Broc Hempel: piano

Matt Panayides: guitar, percussion