Vincent Hsu & The Jazz Supreme Orchestra
African polyrhythms infused with Latin and jazz improvisation and Taiwanese elements
African polyrhythms infused with Latin and jazz improvisation and Taiwanese elements
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 has been touring worldwide, including Blue Note New York & Beijing, Madrid International Jazz Festival, Busan Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, among others.
He 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. The two bands have taken the dual vernaculars of Afro-Cuban music and jazz and left their own musical mark through the creation of an original work that embraces the context of Taiwan’s own soundscape.
The name of Jazz Supreme is a tribute to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and its core spirit of summoning love and beauty of the universe through jazz.
Furthermore, The Jazz Supreme Projects look forward to extending the value of jazz into people’s daily lives through a series of live performances, lectures, radio programs and cross-disciplinary exchanges.
Music for the River Jazz Suite: The Spirit of Love River & Mississippi River
A new work dedicated to two great rivers: Love River from Hsu’s hometown Kaohsiung and Mississippi River that has a profound impact on New Orleans—the birthplace of jazz.
Calice Chen, Band Manager
Email: elvalina@gmail.com
Phone: +886-937710167 or +886-988382107
Music for the River Jazz Suite: The Spirit of Love River & Mississippi River
A charming city often has a great river, which cultivates culture, drives history, and carries the memories of the entire city.
Music for the River Jazz Suite is a brand new work by the award-winning bassist/composer Vincent Hsu, who dedicates it to two great rivers: Love River from his hometown Kaohsiung, and Mississippi River that has a profound impact on New Orleans—the birthplace of jazz.
During a steamboat ride the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Hsu deeply felt the connection between jazz swing and the rhythm of the river, which also brought back his memories of the ferry and sunset of another port city, Kaohsiung.
The Love River, which flows through the city of Kaohsiung, has always shared a special emotional connection with the locals. The inspiration of this concert is based on Hsu’s life memories growing up in Kaohsiung and intertwined between the cultural heritage of the Love River and the Mississippi River flowing through music cities including New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis.
Music has power, energy, a 'spirit’ — when a musician is able to tap into the “flow.” Vincent Hsu and his team carried the audience on a journey into the flow that night, and we left feeling simple, pure joy.
—Eryk Smith, The News Lens
Composer Vincent Hsu deserves our ears!
—DOWNBEAT Magazine ★★★★ Editors’ Picks
Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, TX, USA
New Orleans Jazz Museum / Improvisations Gala, New Orleans, LA, USA
National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
