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| Helen Sung-Oracles-Sunnyside |
The pianist Helen Sung has released her debut as a
composer/arranger for big band music with Oracles on the Sunnyside
label and it’s certainly an auspicious one.
Sung was born in Houston, Texas where after graduating from
Houston’s High School of Performing and Visual Arts. She took her undergraduate and
master’s degrees in classical piano from the University of Texas at Austin. Subsequently, she enrolled and completed a two-year
graduate program at The Thelonious Monk Institute then located at Loyola
University in New Orleans, where she was able to tour with Herbie Hancock and
Wayne Shorter as part of an International educational performance tour to India
and Thailand. Later awards included becoming a semi-finalist in the 1999 Thelonious
Monk piano competition and winning the Mary Lou Williams piano competition in
2007.
Besides being an in-demand artist, she has served as an
associate professor at Berklee (2011-2014) and is presently on the faculty of Columbia
and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She recently was awarded the
prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021.
While I have had exposure to some of Sung’s previous work, this
is my first chance to really see this artist as the triple threat she has
become. Besides her excellent pianistic instincts, Oracles captures
Hung’s mastery of both composition and arrangement for the big band format. On
this album, she coordinates seventeen instruments, with Alan Ferber conducting the band for the recording. She creates a suite of music that
is beautifully conceived, creatively arranged and played, and does honor to her oracles;
the musical icons that mentored and encouraged her so inspirationally along the
way.
The music includes twelve compositions, each with a special
connection to the pianist’s path. The
opening piece is titled “Convergence” and is a Sung composition that could be
seen as the culmination of the work her mentors encouraged the pianist to pursue
beyond her obvious instrumental prowess. “Convergence” is more like an opening
exclamation point, a wonderful piece that erupts with promise and excitement. A
facile statement of her vision both as a composer, but also promisingly demonstrates
her intuitive abilities as an arranger/orchestrator of multiple instruments.
“Convergence” opens with a brief but powerful drum intro by
Adam Cruz. The brass and reed section layer the threads of the tapestry upon which the tight
trumpet work of Alex Norris is featured. Sung’s section creates great force and
tension. Her piano solo follows with energy and fluidity, as the rhythm section
of Cruz and bassist Victor Archer pulse. John Ellis offers an authoritative
tenor solo. The sections work in both unison and as
counterpoint to each other and the net experience is exciting, powerful and joyous.
The remainder of the set includes compositions that are penned by some of Sung’s mentors; trumpeter Clark Terry’s “Samba Da Gunz,” where Sung features trumpeters Nathaniel Williford, Mike Rodriguez, Alex Norris and Tatum Greenblatt, to show four different takes on Terry’s trumpet-centric music.
Saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s gorgeous “Diana” is beautifully played by Sung on an otherworldly sounding electric piano in duo with Ellis on a vaporous soprano saxophone, a real highlight.
Bassist Ron Carter’s “R.J.” finds Sung on piano pulsing as bassist Archer lays down some fierce bottom lines and the brass and reeds wail in the background.
“A Little Bird Watchin’ “is a Sung dedication to the saxophonist Jimmy Heath and features the wonderful deep-toned tenor saxophone of Nicole Glover.
Pianist Horace Silver’s “Peace” finds Sung using Greenblatt’s lead trumpet along with Archer’s plucky bass to open the poignant melody. The brass and reed section create a marvelous weave of sounds as Torres expressive percussion adds another element to the aural colors.
Other oracles that Sung honors with compositions include “Positively C.T.” for Clark Terry, “Mr. Virtuosity” for Ron Carter, and “Wayne’s World” for Wayne Shorter.
Sung also wrote a suite of songs under the name “Pianism” for the pianist Roland Hanna, who always encouraged the pianist to retain some of her classical roots into her jazz compositions, which Hung includes in the opening and closing parts of this three song suite.
The suite includes: “Pianism I (for) Barry Harris”, a piece that features a classically influenced flute entre. Sung's piano transitions into a swinging pace with walking bass by Archer before an alto sax solo by Alejandro Avils prevails with some hard bop roots and the piece ends with a soaring soprano solo,(could this be Ellis again or maybe Pietro?) at the coda.
“Pianism II (for) Kenny Barron” finds Mike Rodriguez on a flugelhorn solo that movingly captures some of Barron’s melodicism.
“Pianism III (for) Herbie Hancock”, is a modern piece where Sung trades
fours with two trombonists Sara Jacovina and later James Burton, altoist Dave Pietro and John Ellis on soprano get their turns and then Nathaniel Williford on trumpet is the last to parry with Sung as the band layers and
soars behind the Reed and Brass sections and Torres and Cruz create a tumultuous explosion at the coda.
Oracles is a feast to the ears of anyone who loves creative big band jazz and should clearly mark Helen Sung’s debut
as a big band composer/arranger a rousing success!
Alex Norris - trumpet, flugelhorn Nathaniel Williford - trumpet, flugelhorn
James Burton III - lead trombone Sara Jacovino - trombone Willie Applewhite - trombone
Gina Benalcázar López - bass trombone Dave Pietro - first alto sax, doubles
Nicole Glover - second tenor sax, doubles Andrew Gutauskas - baritone sax, bass clarinet)
Vicente Archer - bass Adam Cruz - drums Samuel Torres - percussion Alan Ferber - conductor
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