Burning Bridge:  Biographies 
  

The music of Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) explores the vibrations and language of his history. His compositions are often narrative landscapes through which sonic beings embark upon extemporaneous, transformational journeys.  Downbeat Magazine named his quintet recording Sing House, one of the Best CDs of 2017.  His 2015 CD Voice (Innova), which features vocalists Deanna Relyea and Tom Buckner performing East Village poetry with different ensembles, received critical acclaim.  Zilzal, his duets with Ayman Fanous (guitar/bouzouki) was named one of the Top CDs of 2014 by All About Jazz/ Italy. In 2013 and 2012 the El Intruso Jazz Critics Poll voted him #1 for Violin. The 2012 Downbeat Critics’ Poll voted Mr. Hwang as  “Rising Star for Violin.” Burning Bridge, his octet of Chinese and Western instruments was one of the top CDs of 2012 in Jazziz and the Jazz Times. In 2011 he released the critically acclaimed Symphony of Souls (Mulatta), performed by his improvising string orchestra, Spontaneous River.  In 2010, the New York Jazz Record selected Commitment, The Complete Recordings, 1981-1983 (NoBusiness), from a collective quartet that was Mr. Hwang’s first band, as one the “2010 Reissued Recordings of the Year.” His quartet EDGE released three critically acclaimed CDS, EDGE (2006, Asian Improv), Stories Before Within (2008, Innova), and Crossroads Unseen (2011, Euonymus). His chamber opera The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown was named one of the “Top Ten Opera Recordings of 2005” by Opera News. As composer, Mr. Hwang has received support from Chamber Music America, US Artists International, the NEA, Rockefeller Foundation and others. As violinist, he has worked with Karl Berger, Anthony Braxton, William Parker, Butch Morris, Ivo Perlman, Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Pauline Oliveros, Tomeka Reid, Patrick Brennan, and many others.  Full Bio

Taylor Ho Bynum has spent his career navigating the intersections between structure and improvisation – through musical composition, performance and interdisciplinary collaboration, and through production, organizing, teaching, writing and advocacy. Bynum’s expressionistic playing on cornet and his expansive vision as composer have garnered him critical attention on over twenty recordings as a bandleader and dozens more as a sideman. His varied endeavors include his Acoustic Bicycle Tours (where he travels to concerts solely by bike across thousands of miles) and his stewardship of Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation (which he serves as executive director, producing and performing on most of Braxton’s recent major projects). In addition to his own bands and his ongoing collaboration with Braxton, past work includes other legendary figures such as Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor, and current collective projects feature forward thinking peers like Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara. Bynum is the director of the jazz and creative music ensemble at Dartmouth College, and his writing has been published in the New Yorker, Point of Departure and Sound American.  http://taylorhobynum.com

Joseph Daley is a contemporary music, jazz, and improvisation artist, who studied at the Manhattan School of Music attaining a bachelor’s in performance and a master’s in music education. He has received fellowships in music composition from the National Endowment of the Arts, MacDowell Colony, Music Omi, and the Geraldine R Dodge Foundation. His debut CD project, The Seven Deadly Sins, was released in 2011 and has received international critical acclaim, featuring his Earth Tones Ensemble Jazz Orchestra; this powerfully innovative music mines the same rich vein of musical expression as that of immortals like Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington and George Russell. His follow up project entitled The Seven Heavenly Virtues is orchestrated for string orchestra and percussion. It was supported by the New Music USA’S CAP recording program made possible by funds from the Mary Flager Charitable Trust. Daley has also produced the following CD project for his JoDa Music Label to document his talents as a composer: Portraits, Trayvon Martin Suite and the Tuba Trio Chronicles. He is a recently retired music educator completing 30 years of service. Mr. Daley has performed, recorded and toured the world with the following artists: MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, BILL COLE, FAR EAST SIDE BAND, SAM RIVERS, ELLERY ESKELIN, LIBERATION MUSIC ORCHESTRA, GIL EVANS, CARLA BLEY, TAJ MAHAL TUBA BAND, JAYNE CORTEZ, GEORGE GRUNTZ, HOWARD JOHNSON AND GRAVITY, EBONY BRASS QUINTET, PARADIGM SHIFT, DAVE DOUGLAS, BILL DIXON, CECIL TAYLOR, ANTHONY BRAXTON, CRAIG HARRIS AND GOD’S TROMBONES, SPIDER MONKEY STRINGS, BURNING BRIDGE and HAZMAT MODINE  josephdaley.com 
   
Andrew Drury is a composer/improviser, percussionist, and advocate for the cause of adventurous music and international community. Drury has worked with world-class artists, well-known and obscure, in 30 countries and on over 50 recordings. He is a pioneer in the area of extended techniques known for his skillful use of a dustpan and the transformation of drums into wind instruments. Andrew performs as a soloist, works in groups of two to forty musicians, and collaborates with Ingrid Laubrock, Brandon Seabrook,  JD Parran, Frank Lacy, Stephanie Griffin, Stephanie Richards, Robert Dick. He has played with Jason Kao Hwang since 2004. Others he has worked with include Wadada Leo Smith, Agustí Fernandez, John Tchicai, Wayne Horvitz, Myra Melford, Tomeka Reid, and Roswell Rudd. Drury founded the Soup & Sound house concert series and Continuum Culture & Arts, a non-profit organization that has initiated performances, workshops, recordings, and residencies on three continents. Originally from Seattle he studied for most of the ‘80s with Ed Blackwell, and now lives in Brooklyn. http://andrewdrury.com

Ken Filiano performs and records with leading artists in jazz and improvised music, fusing the rich traditions of the double bass with his own seemingly limitless imagination. Ken leads two quartets, Quantum Entanglements and Baudolino's Dilemma, and is co-leader of The Steve Adams/Ken Filiano Duo. His extensive discography includes a solo bass CD, “subvenire” (NineWinds), and his quartet's “Dreams From a Clown Car" (Clean Feed). For these and numerous other recordings and performances, critics have called Ken a "creative virtuoso," a "master of technique" . . . "a paradigm of that type of artist...who can play anything in any context and make it work, simply because he puts the music first and leaves peripheral considerations behind.” (JazzValley.com / Robert Rusch / Chris Kelsey). Ken teaches master classes in bass and improvisation, has a private bass studio, and is a Guiding Artist and Advisor at Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY. 

Sun Li (pipa player) is a graduate of Shenyang Music Conservatory in Liao Ning Province of China. She was a member of the China National Song and Dance Ensemble in Beijing before coming to the US. Currently, Sun Li is a member of Music From China, a New York based chamber ensemble that performs a dual repertoire of traditional and contemporary Chinese music. Sun Li has performed with the ensemble in many famous concert halls through the US, such as Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center and Freer Gallery in Washington DC. The New York Times commented on her performances as “virtuosic and colorful.” Her recent appearances include the Princeton Symphony Orchestra; New Brunswick Symphony Orchestra; 2013 Lincoln Center Festival; 2015 Festival International Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Canada; 2016 Solo Recital at Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida and 2017 Columbus Symphony Orchestra. musicfromchina.org

Born in Newark, NJ, Steve Swell has been an active member of the NYC music community since 1975.  He has toured and recorded with many artists from mainstreamers such as Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich to so called outsiders as Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor and William Parker.  He has over 40 CDs as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artist on more than 100 other releases.  His CD, "Suite For Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers" (CIMP) ranked number 2 in the 2004 Cadence Readers Poll. He has also received grants from US Artists International in 2006 an MCAF (LMCC) award in 2008 and 2013 and has been commissioned twice on the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006 and at Roulette in 2012. Steve was nominated for Trombonist of the Year 2008 & 2011 by the Jazz Journalists Association, was selected Trombonist of the Year 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 by the magazine El Intruso of Argentina and received the 2008 Jubilation Foundation Fellowship Award of the Tides Foundation. The Downbeat Critics Poll selected him for the Trombone category in 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013.  

Wang Guowei studied at the Shanghai Conservatory and was formerly concertmaster and erhu soloist of the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra. He serves as Artistic Director of the NY-based ensemble Music From China since 1996 and maintains an active solo career. Mr. Wang has performed with the Virginia Symphony, Continuum, Amelia Piano Trio, DaCamera of Houston, Ethos Percussion Group, Ornette Coleman, Butch Morris, Kenny Garrett, Yo-Yo Ma, Present Music, the Shanghai, Ying, and Todd Reynold string quartets, Copland House, PRISM Quartet, 3rd Angle New Music Ensemble, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Philadelphia Classical Symphony, Opera Boston, ?2012 Spoleto Festival and Lincoln Center Festival, 2013?Luminato Festival, Bowdoin New Music Festival, among others. Wang Guowei has taught erhu and Chinese music ensemble at Wesleyan University, New York University, and currently at Westminster Choir College at Rider University, Swarthmore College as co-director and conductor of the Swarthmore Chinese Music Ensemble, and Williams College where he is Artist-in-Residence in Chinese Music Performance and Director of the Williams College Chinese Music Ensemble. He founded and conducts the Music From China Youth Orchestra.  http://wangguoweierhu.wordpress.com