Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“It’s always been there,” multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jen Shyu said about a wave of vitriol aimed at Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. “These events, they’re just an excuse for people.”
(Photo: Steven Schreiber/pirecordings.com)For Hatamiya, the challenge is for people to recognize his embrace of traditional and modern jazz as a facet of his own identity.
For Sugimoto and Shyu, their intention has been to examine and embrace their identities as Asian women in their music.
“What I’ve been exploring my whole life as an artist is trying to come up in a music world—and more specifically a jazz world—that has objectified me and ‘exoticized’ me as an Asian female,” Shyu said.
Both Shyu and Sugimoto have felt pressure from various people—men who suggested it would bolster their careers if they played up their sexuality. For Asian women, that expectation can cause profound confusion about who they should or want to be.
“When I was little, the thing I wanted to do most was to be Miss Saigon on Broadway,” Shyu said, laughing. “It’s kind of disturbing: My greatest ambition was to be a prostitute on stage.”
The thread tying these artists together is tethered to a needle that pierces the heart of every Asian who was born in or immigrated to the States: the seemingly unsolvable paradox of belonging here and identifying with American culture, yet being seen as “the other” by neighbors.
Jang recently was out buying groceries, preparing to hunker down and protect against the coronavirus, when a woman yelled at him, accusing the pianist and composer of trying to cut in line. He won’t ever know if her anger was motivated by conscious or unconscious racial bias, but it’s a worry that he shares with the other artists interviewed here—as well as those who nervously endure the current wave of bigotry pointed at Asian Americans.
Four decades after the inception of Asian Improv aRts, Asian Americans continue to find different ways of reconciling their origin stories with their passion for jazz and improvised music, knocking down persistent racial stereotypes in the process.
But Jang realizes everyone needs to find their own path.
“For Francis and myself, that’s our history; for the younger generation, it’s not going to be the same,” he said. “What we share is our personal expression in our own unique way. We march to the beat of a different gong.” DB
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be among the headliners at this year’s DC JazzFest.
Mar 2, 2026 9:48 PM
The first wave of artists scheduled to perform at the 2026 DC JazzFest have been announced. This year’s headliners…
Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.
Feb 24, 2026 12:00 PM
After earning the 2024 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy for her seventh album, How Love Begins (La Reserve), comprising 12…
“These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.
Mar 10, 2026 1:43 PM
Maria Schneider is doing her part to try to fix what ails America. Which got her thinking about crows, specifically,…
