When Helen Sung was awarded a Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation “New Jazz Works” grant, it enabled her to fulfill a longtime dream: to create Sung With Words, a collaborative project with the celebrated American poet Dana Gioia. Sung With Words (released 9/14 on Stricker Street Records) is the pianist’s first recording to feature all original music: There are tracks for which Gioia's poems serve as lyrics, as well as instrumental compositions inspired by words (for example, Sung’s “Lament for Kalief Browder”). “It has been a great learning experience dealing with words – building sonic worlds around Dana's poems that express what those words mean to me,” says Helen Sung. “In my research for writing the music for Sung With Words, I found inspiration in music where words, rhythm and sound are interwoven in ways that move me – the music of artists such as Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, A Tribe Called Quest, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Esperanza Spaulding, and Terri Lyne Carrington. I have a great respect for the art of songwriting and wanted to answer the challenge: to present Dana's words in my own musical language – as an honest distillation of what I hear, and how I hear.”
Helen Sung – piano
Ingrid Jensen – trumpet
John Ellis – saxophones
Reuben Rogers – bass
Kush Abadey – drums
Samuel Torres – percussion
Carolyn Leonhart – guest vocals
With Special Guest
Cecile McLorin Salvant - vocals