Jon Jang

As we continue our sojourn through the '90s....

1 8 Bold Souls, Sideshow (Arabesque, 1992)
2 William Parker/In Order To Survive, The Peach Orchard (Aum Fidelity, 1998)
3 Greg Osby, Banned in New York (Blue Note, 1998)
4 Myra Melford Extended Ensemble, Even the Sounds Shine (hatHUT, 1995)
5 Douglas Ewart and Inventions Clarinet Choir, Angles of Entrance (Aarawak, 1990/1998)
6 Anderson/Crispell/Drake, Destiny (OkkaDisk, 1994)
7 Jon Jang, Two Flowers on a Stem (Soul Note, 1995)
8 Horace Tapscott, Thoughts of Dar Es Salaam (Arabesque, 1997)
9 Charles Gayle, Touchin’ on Trane (FMP, 1993)
10 Anderson/Kowald/Drake, Live at the Velvet Lounge (OkkaDisk, 1999)

Jon Jang, Two Flowers on a Stem (Soul Note, 1995)

Jon Jang (Jang Jian Liang), piano
James Newton, flute
David Murray, tenor sax, bass clarinet
Chen Jiebing, erhu
Santi Debriano, bass and daluo
Jabali Billy Hart, drums

I've been a fan of Jon Jang since I was introduced to his music by Tatsu Aoki, both of them integral members of the national Asian American improv scene. This recording finds Jang leading a fantastic sextet of musicians, and he takes them through an eclectic program of music. 

The album opens with the decidedly asian influenced and meditative Two Flowers on a Stem, which in my listening experience acts as almost an extended introduction leading into a take on Charles Mingus' Meditations on Integration. The band gives this Mingus standard an 18 minute workout, but it's one of those extended cuts that always ends too soon. One important aspect of the instrumentation on this album is the erhu, a two stringed bowed instrument of Chinese origin. It creates an otherworldly sound that has an incredibly vocal quality to it, and to my ears its timbre adds an element of lament to the proceedings.

This disc puts into focus what I perceive as Jang's goal in his musical career: explore his cultural heritage while utilizing the techniques and musical language of jazz. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jon Jang and Francis Wong when they were in Chicago a while back - I think I still have the audio from that somewhere, I'll have to take a look and post it if I do. Jon Jang is the type of improviser who seems to have an allergic reaction to the word jazz. He sees how he is participating in the continuum of improvisatory music that includes what is conventionally referred to as jazz, but he doesn't have any use for the genre since he oftentimes operates along its border territories as it is.

This was one of two discs, the other one being Dougas Ewart's Angles of Entrance, that I thought might not show up on any other lists in the D:O poll. I was pleased to see Vijay Iyer included this disc in his picks, and I could see how Jang might have offered an interesting paradigm for Vijay in his own pianistic explorations of asian cultural heritage and modern improvisation.

Myra Melford Extended Ensemble, Even the Sounds Shine (hatHUT, 1995)

Myra Melford, piano
Dave Douglas, trumpet
Marty Ehrlich, alto sax, clarinet
Lindsey Horner, bass
Reggie Nicholson, drums

This quintet recording from Myra Melford was actually my introduction to her music. I find this disc to present an absolutely mesmerizing program that has the balance of composition and improvisation that I find myself gravitating to in the recorded format. It's interesting, because in a live context, I tend to go to performances that tend to be heavy on the improvisatory end, but when I listen to recordings I find the structure of composition useful in framing the listening experience.

The highlight of this disc for me is the 25 minute La Mezquita Suite. That's not to diminish the other great music on the recording, but when I put this disc on I've found myself getting to the end of La Mezquita Suite and skipping back to hear it again. It's just a sublime, beautiful piece of music with great playing by the ensemble and all the individuals within.

It's interesting to note that this is the only recording on my list featuring the prolific Dave Douglas, who appeared on so many other lists in the poll. He's definitely a blind spot in my listening and record collection, and his playing in this disc definitely piques my curiosity to delve into his own catalog. Maybe I'll take a cue from the '90s list and pick up a couple of discs.

Myra Melford is a fascinating pianist. Her playing as an accompanist is as an active participant rather than a background wallflower, and I find her soloing to be inventive and playful. I'm looking forward to seeing her this summer as part of Nicole Mitchell's tribute to Alice Coltrane in Millennium Park.

More on the '90s soon....