Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
Changing of the Guard at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
Vocalist and composer Annie Chen, who was born in Beijing, is based in New York.
(Photo: Yawen Jiang)In a recent performance at Brooklyn’s ShapeShifter Lab, the Annie Chen Octet navigated odd meters framing Mongolian folk songs, Balkan and Turkish rhythms driving through-composed compositions and metric-modulation-sourced arrangements supporting Chen’s exhilarating vocals.
A former child piano prodigy from Beijing, the 35-year-old’s music had the grace and power of originality.
“When I came to New York in 2012, my purpose was to study standards,” Chen said. “Through my two years earning my master’s degree at Queens College, I focused on jazz standards. I was at school during the daytime, and every evening I’d go out to hear all the other kinds of music. I went to Nublu so many times because they have a lot of world music. Then I began private study with a vocal coach from Egypt. Before that, I’d studied doumbek drumming with a Turkish percussionist.”
Chen’s unique cross-pollinations can be heard on her second album, Secret Treetop (Shanghai Audio & Video Ltd.), which the bandleader recorded with her octet, a group that’s gigged around the city for about four years.
“When I wrote the title track, I was thinking of musicians,” Chen said. “As musicians, we should be standing on the top of the trees and seeing the whole world. That view will be much wider and more open-minded, and we’ll see everything differently.”
Choosing each member of the octet for their specific talents, Chen brought in Canadian-born David Smith for the trumpet chair: “Annie’s music walks the line between complicated and melodic,” Smith noted. “You hear her singing this material—she makes things that are pretty complicated sound palatable. She makes this interesting music sound normal, and that’s unusual.”
The 10-song program for Secret Treetop explores so much rhythmic, melodic, historic and pan-global terrain, it’s like circling planet Earth in a brief but thrilling hour. “Mr. Wind-Up Bird, Strange Yearning,” which was inspired by a Haruki Murakami novel, features a dense, pointillist-like arrangement.
There’s also a rendition of the Mongolian folk song “Ao Bao Xiang Hui” (“A Date In The Yurt”), a romantic number that’s familiar to Chen’s circle of friends in her native Beijing.
“People in north and south China are very different,” Chen explained. “In the north, we’re more related to the Mongolian heart, so we get a very unique feeling when listening to Mongolian music. Unlike typical Asian singers, who have a high-pitched, bright, sharp voice, female Mongolian singers have a very low, wide and rich tone.”
A winner of multiple Chinese piano competitions from the age of 4, Chen earned a bachelor’s degree in classical studies. Inspired by Sarah Vaughan records, the composer changed direction in her teens and began singing, performing as a member of a few Chinese r&b bands.
Chen, who currently is experimenting with various combinations of musicians for her next release, holds down a monthly trio residence at Tomi Jazz, a subterranean club in midtown.
“What impresses me is Annie’s conception, which is clear,” Smith said. “Rafał wrote the arrangements; his stamp is very much a part of the [music]. Yet, there’s a common thread in Annie’s music. Her conception is very similar to that of an instrumentalist. The melodies, the general tone of the songs, the odd meters—that’s all Annie. And she lets her Chinese background come through in her music, too. This original and unusual thing she has is very honest.” DB
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
