\nWinner of the Kennedy Center\u2019s Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition, Helen Sung has been called \u201cone of the brightest emerging stars in jazz today.\u201d Breaking stereotypes as an Asian-American artist and composer, her experience in classical, jazz, & popular music gives her a compelling, unique voice.<\/p>\n
Her CD Helenistique was praised as \u201c\u2026one of the year\u2019s most exciting listens.\u201d (JazzTimes), and her latest CD Sungbird after Alb\u00e9niz, a jazz-classical adventure, is being hailed \u201ca real winner\u201d (All About Jazz \u2013 Los Angeles), a \u201cseamless recording in which one composer\u2019s contributions complement the other\u2019s.\u201d (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. <\/p>\n
Of Chinese heritage and a native of Houston, Texas, Helen attended Houston\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The septet performed with Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Jackie McLean, Bobby Watson, Harry \u201cSweets\u201d 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 \u201cTootie\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
After graduating from the Institute, Sung dove into the Boston area jazz scene \u2013 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\u2019s Continuing Education Program & the YMCA.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s \u201cBig Badd\u201d Big Band.<\/p>\n
In addition to her work as a sideman, Sung is a budding bandleader and has been featured on Marian McPartland\u2019s acclaimed NPR program Piano Jazz, NPR\u2019s JazzSet with DeeDee Bridgewater, and XM Radio\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s \u2018Blue Room,\u2019 The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and New York City\u2019s finest jazz venues. We just caught her recent performance at the Jazz Standard. <\/p>\n
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\u2019s band led a jazz residency program (made possible by a Chamber Music America\/Doris Duke Foundation grant) benefiting underserved youth in Camden, NJ.<\/i><\/p>\n
Helen:<\/b> I love thinking about wish lists! There are many artists I dream about collaborating with one day. Here are a few: Lately, I\u2019ve been writing for the voice for a project I\u2019m calling \u201cSung With Words.\u201d I\u2019d 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\u2019d love to play with him. Finally I think it would be a great experience to write music for the screen, both big & small \u2013 some directors I dig are Richard Linklater, Ang Lee, Spike Lee.<\/p>\n \nI feel it\u2019s gradually becoming less and less \u201cexotic\u201d to have Asian-American journalists, newscasters, athletes, business people, etc. etc., so it\u2019s exciting to see what the future will look like.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Helen:<\/b> 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\u2019t 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, \u201cI didn\u2019t know one could play the piano like that\u2026I didn\u2019t know one was allowed to play the piano like that!\u201d A bunch of us classical majors enrolled in a \u201cBeginning Jazz Piano\u201d 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!<\/p>\n Helen:<\/b> I think it\u2019s 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\u2019s gradually becoming less and less \u201cexotic\u201d to have Asian-American journalists, newscasters, athletes, business people, etc. etc., so it\u2019s exciting to see what the future will look like.<\/p>\nASIANCE: Why prompted you to switch to Jazz? How were you bitten by the Jazz bug? <\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: What do you think of Asian Americans in media? Are you happy with the progress? <\/h3>\n