THE NEW YORK TIMES

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1997
POP/JAZZ

New Seekers in Jazz Look to the East
By Adam Shatz

(excerpt)

For Mr. Hwang, 40, and Mr. Iyer, 26, combining Asian music and jazz is an almost subliminal process. Mr. Hwang contends that jazz and Asian influences meet at an unconscious, poetic level" an apt description of the ethereal environments evoked by his Far East Side Band, which includes Chinese, Korean and Japanese instruments. Indeed, what's striking about Mr. Hwang's music, a stirring blend of Stephane Grappelli's violin improvisations and Morton Feldman's microtonal compositions, is that it makes traditional instruments sound contemporary.