TRUE SOUND RECORINGS T5017 (RELEASED OCTOBER 1, 2026)
Violinist Jason Kao Hwang’s discography of 20 recordings reflects his diverse influences and musical experiences. Some, including Caverns (1994), The Floating Box: A Story in Chinatown (2005), and Burning Bridges (2018), are clearly rooted in his Chinese American heritage. Others, including Conjure (2019), Sing House (2017), and Human Rites Trio (2020), reflect the influence of avant-garde violinists Leroy Jenkins and Billy Bang. According to Hwang, both musicians encouraged him to find his own voice. On Second Life, his second recording with the Human Rites Trio—bassist Ken Filiano and percussionist Andrew Drury—Hwang’s voice as an improviser, composer, and bandleader is loud and clear. The album consists of four extended compositions that showcase both the individual virtuosity of the performers and the close, spontaneous communication they have developed over the years. Each selection unfolds like a story, beginning with a strong statement that the trio develops in increasingly varied ways before building to an intense climax and arriving at a natural resolution. The title track is a case in point. Filiano’s dark, bowed bass opens “Second Life,” underscored by Hwang’s lyrical line and Drury’s percussive colors. The piece moves through sections in which Filiano and Hwang alternately complement and clash with one another, developing countermelodies and rhythmic patterns. Drury’s single gong strike signals the climax, after which the music descends into inspired solo and duo passages, resolving with Hwang’s pizzicato recap and Filiano’s final low, bowed-bass note. The remaining compositions—“Galaxies Twist Under Before It,” with its balance of form and freedom; the tango-infused “What to Keep, What to Let Go”; and the funky looseness of “Ricochet”—are equally compelling musical stories, each filled with passages of joy, sorrow, longing, and melancholy. Whether inspired by his cultural heritage or his musical mentors, Hwang has developed a distinctive voice that speaks to the infinite possibilities of composition, improvisation and imagination.
BOTTOM LINE: Listen closely to the structured compositions and spontaneous interaction on Second Life and you’ll hear the essence of jazz: collective improvisation, call and response, swing, and freedom. Violinist Jason Kao Hwang, bassist Ken Filiano, and percussionist Andrew Drury incorporate all of these elements into a session that also demonstrates jazz’s most essential quality—the sound of surprise.
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