Vincent Hsu and Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band: 'Music for the River Jazz Suite'
VIEW EVENT DETAILSWith Special Guest Donald Harrison
Schedule
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
7:30 p.m. Performance
Experience the flow of a unique musical journey that blends genres and transcends borders! Bassist and composer Vincent Hsu leads the Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band in a captivating fusion of jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms, bringing together celebrated musicians from Taiwan and the United States — including NEA jazz master Donald Harrison — to create a unique sonic landscape inspired by Hsu's Taiwanese roots. Join us on a journey through a vibrant tapestry of sound as they perform selections from Hsu’s critically acclaimed work, Music for the River Jazz Suite, which explores the connection between the Love River in Hsu’s southern Taiwan homeland and the mighty Mississippi River, as well as his new works drawing inspiration from Indonesian gamelan music to unravel intriguing parallels between Taiwanese Daoism and African Yoruba deities.
Musicians
Special Guest / Alto Saxophone – Donald Harrison
Trumpet – Alex Norris
Tenor Saxophone – Hank Pan
Guitar – Shih-Chun Lee
Piano – Martin Musaubach
Double Bass – Vincent Hsu
Drums – Kuan-Liang Lin
“Composer Vincent Hsu deserves our ears![...]Don’t overlook the fact that Hsu as a bassist is locked, loaded and so much fun. At the core of the performance is the breathtaking Rumba For The River Trilogy with moments of sheer beauty, power and joy that bring in so many influence from New Orleans all the way to Taiwan.”
– DownBeat Magazine ★★★★ Editors' Picks
About Vincent Hsu
Born and bred in Taiwan, Vincent Tsung-Yu Hsu is an award-winning bassist and composer who fuses jazz and Afro-Cuban music with his Taiwanese roots. Hsu was awarded a master’s degree in Jazz Performance from New York University and was mentored by legendary musicians, including Victor Venegas, Andy González, Cecil McBee, and John A. Schaeffer.
Hsu’s latest album Music for the River Jazz Suite: The Spirit of Love River & Mississippi River has been chosen by DownBeat Magazine for its 2023 Editors’ Picks and received a stellar four-star review. In addition to performing, Hsu is committed to the outreach of jazz culture and original compositions, actively promoting jazz and Afro-Cuban music through projects in education and international exchange.
Hsu serves as the founder and music director of two bands with different instrumentations: The Jazz Supreme Orchestra and Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band, which was invited to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Museum and the Downriver Festival. The two bands have taken the dual vernaculars of Afro-Cuban music and jazz and left their own musical mark through Hsu’s deeply emotive and soulful originals that embrace the context of Taiwan’s soundscape.
About Donald Harrison
New Orleans-born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a musician/composer who master musicians consider a master of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. He is also a genius, according to geniuses like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. In the HBO drama Treme, Emmy winning director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated new styles of music. Harrison has appeared as an actor/musician in 9 episodes of Treme, Oscar-winning director Johnathon Demme’s film Rachel Getting Married, Spike Lee’s When The Levees Broke, and Luke Cage. This talented artist is the recognized Big Chief of Congo Square in Afro-New Orleans culture and was made a Chief in 2019 by Queen Diambi Kabatusuila in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa. Harrison honed his experience playing with Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Eddie Palmieri, Dr. John, Lena Horne, McCoy Tyner, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Miles Davis, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Chuck Loeb, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Digable Planets, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, The Headhunters, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and The Notorious BIG. He has been a mentor to artists as diverse as The Notorious BIG, Jonathon Batiste, Christian Scott, Trombone Shorty, and Esperanza Spaulding.
Performing Arts and Culture programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Syamal and Susmita Poddar. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, The Brown Foundation, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment Inc. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Wortham Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Clayton Fund, and the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming to Asia Society Texas.
Performing Arts and Culture Presenting Sponsors
Syamal and Susmita Poddar
Performing Arts and Culture Program Sponsors
Program Partners
About Asia Society Texas
Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.
Event Details
1370 Southmore Blvd, Houston, TX 77004
713.496.9901