Helen Sung

About

Helen Sung is an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer, and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. A native of Houston, Texas, and graduate of its High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), she eschewed her classical piano upbringing after a jazz epiphany during undergraduate studies at UT Austin. Helen went on to become part of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute (now the Herbie Hancock Institute) at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her recent releases Sung With Words (Stricker Street), a collaborative project with renowned poet Dana Gioia, and Anthem For A New Day (Concord Jazz) topped the jazz charts. Quartet+ (Sunnyside Records), her latest release, followed suit, garnering a 4.5 star DownBeat review and inclusion in its "Best of 2021 Albums" list and a JazzTimes cover story (January 2022 issue). Helen and her band have performed at major American festivals and venues including Newport, Monterey, Disney Hall, SFJAZZ, and Carnegie Hall. Internationally, her “NuGenerations" Project toured southern Africa as a U.S. State Department Jazz Ambassador, and recent engagements include debuts at the London Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Blue Note Beijing, and the Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival. She has performed with such luminaries as the late Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis (who named her as one of his "Who's Got Next: Jazz Musicians to Watch!"), MacArthur Fellow Regina Carter, and Grammy-winning artists including Terri Lyne Carrington, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and the Mingus Big Band. Helen is a Steinway Artist and has served on the jazz faculties at Berklee College of Music, the Juilliard School, and Columbia University, where she also was the inaugural jazz artist-in-residence at Columbia's prestigious Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.

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REFLECTIONS

Summer Sabbaths

Summer is upon us: the sun shines more brightly each day as the earth blooms and blossoms in its warmth. But it is not a carefree summer like the ones I remember from my youth. And sadly, many young girls and boys who should be starting summer break were instead horribly murdered on Tuesday May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. My heart bleeds for the families and community, and the toxic blend of politics, corruption, and greed for power (that blinds elected officials to obvious truths) is enraging. But I pray that I will not give into despair and cynicism, resigned to the status quo. May I employ the tools available to us -- voting, advocating, protesting, and supporting the causes and people I care about. Let's also stay connected and get together whenever we can to get enough of the essential life "vitamin" known as jazz music - details about upcoming shows here.

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