Helen Sung – Jazz Star
Winner of the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition, Helen Sung has been called “one of the brightest emerging stars in jazz today.” Breaking stereotypes as an Asian-American artist and composer, her experience in classical, jazz, & popular music gives her a compelling, unique voice.
Her CD Helenistique was praised as “…one of the year’s most exciting listens.” (JazzTimes), and her latest CD Sungbird after Albéniz, a jazz-classical adventure, is being hailed “a real winner” (All About Jazz – Los Angeles), a “seamless recording in which one composer’s contributions complement the other’s.” (BillBoard). Most recently, her project NuGenerations was selected as a 2009 US State Department-Rhythm Road Ensemble and will tour Africa as American musical ambassadors.
Of Chinese heritage and a native of Houston, Texas, Helen attended Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). She initially aspired to be a classical pianist but was bitten by the jazz bug while pursuing undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She switched to jazz after being accepted into the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (at the New England Conservatory of Music). An intensive program accepting only seven students (forming a jazz septet), the Institute proved to be an unprecedented opportunity to study & perform with some of the greatest masters of jazz music.
The septet performed with Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Jackie McLean, Bobby Watson, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and James Moody; and studied with Ron Carter (artistic director of the program), Barry Harris, David Baker, Slide Hampton, Lewis Nash, Jon Faddis, Curtis Fuller, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Bennie Maupin, and Sir Roland Hanna. The class toured India and Thailand with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, performed at the Kennedy Center, and presented workshops.
After graduating from the Institute, Sung dove into the Boston area jazz scene – highlights include presenting a jazz workshop with the late, acclaimed bassist Ray Brown, performing at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and features on local television shows. She also taught a group piano class for low-income elderly adults sponsored by New England Conservatory’s Continuing Education Program & the YMCA.
Sung presently lives in New York City, and has gone on to work with such jazz masters as Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Ron Carter, Buster Williams, Wayne Shorter, Steve Turre, Steve Wilson, and MacArthur Fellow violinist Regina Carter. She also frequently appears with the Mingus Big Band and is a current member of Clark Terry’s “Big Badd” Big Band.
In addition to her work as a sideman, Sung is a budding bandleader and has been featured on Marian McPartland’s acclaimed NPR program Piano Jazz, NPR’s JazzSet with DeeDee Bridgewater, and XM Radio’s In the Swing Seat w/Wynton Marsalis. In print, Sung has feature pieces in such publications as Keyboard, Downbeat, JazzTimes, JazzIz, and AllAboutJazz. Her band tours extensively, performing at festivals & venues including the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Vermont Mozart Festival, Jazz Lucca Donna Festival (Italy), Tri-C Jazz Festival (Cleveland), Bern Jazz Festival, the American Jazz Museum’s ‘Blue Room,’ The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and New York City’s finest jazz venues. We just caught her recent performance at the Jazz Standard.
Her experience at the Monk Institute inspires her to remain involved with music education through performing for arts organizations (including JazzReach) and conducting workshops. Helen’s band led a jazz residency program (made possible by a Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation grant) benefiting underserved youth in Camden, NJ.
ASIANCE: Would you like to collaborate with anyone?
Helen: I love thinking about wish lists! There are many artists I dream about collaborating with one day. Here are a few: Lately, I’ve been writing for the voice for a project I’m calling “Sung With Words.” I’d love to record it one day and have the incredible jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves sing the songs. Also, playing in a fusion band has re-introduced me to some pretty amazing music, one of them being the work of the great drummer Lenny White. I’d love to play with him. Finally I think it would be a great experience to write music for the screen, both big & small – some directors I dig are Richard Linklater, Ang Lee, Spike Lee.
I feel it’s gradually becoming less and less “exotic” to have Asian-American journalists, newscasters, athletes, business people, etc. etc., so it’s exciting to see what the future will look like.
ASIANCE: Why prompted you to switch to Jazz? How were you bitten by the Jazz bug?
Helen: During my junior year in undergraduate studies (in Classical Piano Performance) at the University of Texas at Austin, a friend of mine took me to a Harry Connick Jr. concert. I wasn’t really aware of who he was at that time. He brought his big band and they were great, but in the middle of the concert he sat down and played a couple of solo piano selections. I was blown away, thinking, “I didn’t know one could play the piano like that…I didn’t know one was allowed to play the piano like that!” A bunch of us classical majors enrolled in a “Beginning Jazz Piano” class the next semester, and life was never quite the same. Later when I was accepted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance program (then at the New England Conservatory), that pretty much sealed the deal!
ASIANCE: What do you think of Asian Americans in media? Are you happy with the progress?
Helen: I think it’s great more and more Asian Americans are showing up in mainstream media. On the other hand, the portrayal of Asian Americans has often left much to be desired. However, I believe things can only improve if we hold to integrity and excellence in our various fields and disciplines. I feel it’s gradually becoming less and less “exotic” to have Asian-American journalists, newscasters, athletes, business people, etc. etc., so it’s exciting to see what the future will look like.
ASIANCE: What about Asian Americans in Jazz?
Helen: You know, right now I think more Asians (especially the Japanese and Koreans) are into jazz than Asian Americans, but the number of aspiring Asian American jazz musicians is increasing. As I’m also an Asian American woman, labels can become more of an issue than I would like. I guess I try not to dwell on such things too much – my hope is to be the type of artist that transcends, as I heard the great bassist Charlie Haden say so masterfully, “categorization.”
ASIANCE: What do you do in your free time?
Helen: I love to hang out with friends, eat, cook and/or bake, sleep, watch great movies, eat (oh did I say that already?)
ASIANCE: If you weren’t a composer/pianist what would you be doing?
Helen: Oh that’s a tough question! When I was growing up and people asked me why didn’t I do something different I remember feeling nothing else interested me enough like music did. If I had to choose one thing, I might say…I’d probably be a pastry chef somewhere in the south of France.
ASIANCE: What are you looking forward to this upcoming year?
Helen: Well I’ll take a look at the next few months! First, I’m really excited to return to the Jazz Standard, one of my favorite clubs in NYC, with my project Sung With Words. Also, my trio has some fun gigs coming up, including the Ear Shot Jazz Festival in Seattle, WA; a Jazz Cruise; and a stint in Europe. I’ll also be playing with the drummer extraordinaire Terri Lyne Carrington in Uruguay in January. I’ve only worked with her in a revolving stage setting, so I’m really looking forward to playing her music in her band. Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to do a duo concert with bass legend Ron Carter – we’re going to do it again in December, so needless to say, I’m practicing hard!