Thomas Howell
Alertness of a a jazz theme
As its still talking to you
Flies into a murky tunnel,
From pools it splashes upstream
Breathing humid cement brew
Out to a wider channel,
Now we sit, silent as bone,
Waiting if it will speak again,
This time with a funky spit,
Ending in, ghost of a groan,
But no, that is not the end,
It has in mind, more orbit.
Best Jazz on Bandcamp, July, 2023: Book of Stories is arresting, captivating, and, at times, massively thrilling. Jason Kao Hwang’s trio with electric guitarist Anders Nilsson and drummer Michael T.A. Thompson dives into an adventurous fusion session where the musical influences never sit still... - Dave Sumner, Bandcamp
____________________________________________________________
In Book of Stories, arising from composition, improvisation, synergy, and truth seeking, Critical Response challenges the disillusionment and divisiveness that encircle this moment in history.
Michael T.A. Thompson and I performed many times with choreographer/dancer Patricia Nicholson. Both Michael and the late J.A. Deane, encouraged me to explore multiple FX processing. I have been listening to Anders Nilsson for years and knew that this trio would bond, and we have. Beginning in 2018, then interrupted by the pandemic, at long last, I am thankful to be sharing this CD with the world. - Jason Kao Hwang
LINER NOTES
Fusion – after a half-century or so – has reached a certain age, meriting serious reconsideration if not complete reconceptualization, as indeed it receives here by Critical Response. While the Afrofuturist experimentalism of its trailblazing earliest manifestations may soon have devolved in more commercial directions, it crossed paths briefly but seminally with avant-garde jazz on New York’s downtown Loft Jazz scene, whose inspiring aesthetic intersections reverberate throughout the music now at hand.
Jason Kao Hwang, of course, is no stranger to fusions, having distinguished himself among the illustrious alumni of that loft scene by virtue of his visionary musical alchemy: amalgamating composition and improvisation, blending contemporary and creative music, integrating East and West. In this Book of Stories, he all but reinvents the electric violin to reimagine the synergies across the jazz-rock spectrum in concert with kindred spirits Anders Nilsson on electric guitar and Michael T.A. Thompson on drums.
“Power of Many in the Soul of One” provides immediate proof of concept, by deploying the tension between laid-back riff-based jams and aggressive rhythmic interruptions, as well as the contrast between wide-open fields of lyricism and dense battlegrounds of angst, to outstanding narrative effect, as the undercurrent of agitation introduced early on re-emerges in the urgent clashes of the harrowing collective-improvisational climax.
“Upside Circle Down” pays clearly heartfelt homage to Jason’s formative years on the Lower East Side scene, with a lofty ballad that dances perilously on the cutting edge of rhapsody, from the freely extemporized opening investigations of electric timbres, through chorus after chorus of the main song-form’s alternating funky riffs & lyrical bridge, to the concluding poignant trio improvisation and coda.
“a silent ghost follows” evokes electric soundscapes of psychoanalytic dreamwork, employing the manifest content of short unison lines as points of departure for exploring the latent content through solo, duo, and trio improvisations.
“Dragon Carved into Bone” invites listeners to join the trio in imagining the exciting directions in which fusion might have evolved had it held fast to its loft-era experimentalist DNA, perhaps cross-fertilizing with downtown punk and electronica to yield wild-flowered fields of turbulent tuttis, intense collective improvisation, and funky jam sections, as deeply rooted in the fierce urgency of now as in the fearless insurgency of then.
“Friends Forever” concludes the set with a moving tribute to the inspiration of departed comrades whose living legacies keep true believers moving forward with ever-increasing resolve, in this case with the blues-drenched melodicism that serves so often and so well as Jason’s compositional calling card.
Make no mistake: while drawing masterfully on all that has gone before, this trio has no time for nostalgia. Their music lives in the improvisational moment, as T.A.’s responsive propulsion drives Anders’ spiky virtuosity through Jason’s carefully structured compositional itineraries for these journeys of spontaneous discovery. Meanwhile, Jason’s painstaking attention to electronic detail transforms his instrument into a protean kaleidoscope of timbral possibilities, whose instantaneous metamorphoses evoke passing glimpses of shredding electric guitar, breathy wooden flute, and rich contrabass that further expand the vistas of his formidable violin conception. Altogether, throughout the fascinating combinations and permutations explored in Book of Stories, Critical Response’s spontaneous fusions bespeak a collaborative commitment to the present moment, in which shared memories of past glories engender collective visions of future possibilities. - Scott Currie
credits
released June 30, 2023
Jason Kao Hwang: composer/electric violin
Anders Nilsson: electric guitar
Michael T.A. Thompson: drums
Recording engineer: Tom Tedesco, Tedesco Studios
Mix engineer: Jason Kao Hwang
Mastering engineer: Paul Zinman, Soundbyte Productions
Art and Design: William Mazza Studio
Liner Notes: Scott Currie
Band photo: Tom Tedesco
Special Thanks: Gennevieve Lam, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, New York University
Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) explores the vibrations and language of his history. His compositions are often
narrative landscapes through which sonic beings embark upon transformational journeys. In 2019, 2018, 2013 and 2012, the El Intruso Critics voted him #1 for Violin/Viola. The 2012 Downbeat Critics’ Poll voted Mr. Hwang as Rising Star for Violin....more
supported by 13 fans who also own “Book of Stories”
After a precision liftoff in Tabasco and setting a course to travel the space ways from planet to planet, the album peels away through a wormhole just past Saturn in the eponymous track Mayan Space Station to journey through time and space in Canyons of Light. eric F
