Search - Jon Jang and the Pan Asian Arkestra :: Tiananmen

Far East Jazz

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 09/29/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jon Jang's "Tiananmen!" is a delightful melding of improvised jazz and traditional Chinese music. But make no mistake this is not "world beat," it is great jazz in the post-Coltrane tradition. A large assortment of musicians contribute to this recording including Jang on piano, Francis Wong on tenor sax, John Worley on trumpet, Jeff Cressman on trombone, Melecio Magadaluyo on alto and soprano saxes, James Newton on flute, Jim Norton on clarinets, Mark Izu on bass and Anthony Brown on drums and percussion. Additionally the album features two musicians on the traditional Chinese instruments -- Liu Qi-Chao on suona, erhu and sheng, and Zhang Yan on guzheng. The disc's diverse material includes the Eastern melodies of "Tears From The Heavenly Gate," the David Murray Octet-like "Great Wall/Gold Mountain," the Ellingtonesque tribute to the student democracy movement "Come Sunday, June 4, 1989," and the euphoric Pharoah Sanders-like "Fifth Modernization." "Tiananmen!" is definitely one of the most interesting jazz albums of the 90s."