An Evening with Stephanie Chou Quintet - Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month
6PM
City Winery New York presents An Evening with Stephanie Chou live on May 29 at 7:30 PM Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month
STEPHANIE CHOU is a Chinese-American jazz composer/saxophonist/singer who blends influences from her Chinese heritage with Western jazz and pop to create a bracingly original sound that draws audiences across the globe. She’s performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, B.B. King’s, Joe’s Pub, and in jazz festivals across the US and Asia where her music creates immediate cross-cultural connections and continues to expand her fanbase.
Comfort Girl, her bold, innovative song-cycle inspired by true stories of Asian women abducted into sexual slavery during WWII, premiered at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre. It is not only a groundbreaking fusion of East-West musical traditions, but has also sparked public dialogue on a formerly taboo subject that still resonates globally for women today. DownBeat called it “A stunning work that…shines light on a dark chapter of history.” It’s been commissioned as an opera by the American Opera Project. Her quintet combines saxophone and vocals in Mandarin/English with Chinese violin (erhu), viola, and a jazz rhythm section. Chou’s albums include Prime Knot (featuring Marcus Printup) and Asymptote, which focused on jazz reinventions of classic Chinese folk songs and featured Kenny Wollesen, John Escreet, and erhu/viola virtuoso Andy Lin. Her jazz-ballet CforG was commissioned by former ABT principal ballerina Susan Jaffe.
Tonight’s show will feature a mix of Asian-influenced jazz and folk songs, with vocal music in Mandarin/English and instrumental pieces including fresh takes on Chinese folk songs and tongue-twisters (from Asymptote), excerpts from the Comfort Girl song-cycle/jazz-opera, songs exploring math and literature, and a few new tunes. While there is a strong element of Chinese culture, it is meant to reach all audiences and invite people to think about music as a key unifying force.
Stephanie Chou - voice, alto saxophone, compositions
Andy Lin - erhu, viola, violin
Or Matias - piano, voice
Matt Aronoff - bass
Ronen Itzik - drums
Special guest Orville Mendoza - voice