Asian Music Review | Asian voices matter
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Welcome to Asian Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.
I’m Hyewon Park, a jazz composer and a producer based in NY. I am a jazz writer who mostly writes for the American big band, a Jazz Orchestra, and a small jazz ensemble, etc, but I am also an emerging electronic music producer.
Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
Released December 20, 2023. The root for this album was started from a film scoring class when I went to grad school. Most film music is based on classical music, and there are a lot of good VSTs that produce the wonderful sounds of classical orchestra, but there are still not many good VSTs for jazz big bands in my opinion. So, this made me to think about how can I connect my jazz to MIDI.
Stream “Take the “A” Train here:
What lessons would you like to impart with your audience?
The “A” train had a meaning of bringing people from Harlem to the center of NY in the past. So, I arranged this song in the meaning of bringing myself who is a jazz composer to electronic music while keeping my musical identity as a jazz composer.
What I can say to people through my album is that if they want to try something very different from them, they don’t need to change their own characteristics. However, they will find how to make it ‘different’ by keeping their own characteristics!
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
My favorite part of this song is the ‘Narration.’ I motived the announcement of the station of NYC, and changed the script according to my intention of the song. For example, the narration includes ‘ the “A” train is approaching. Please step inside to the jazz.,’ ‘Please watch your jazz for the electronic train,’ This train is delayed quarter note 120,’ ‘The A train to Jazztown is running express,’ etc. These are my favorite parts of the work since it represent my musical identity and the intention of the song.
What’s next on your journey?
The 2nd single album will be coming around Feb 2024! and I’m planning to keep releasing more albums in the following month.
Connect with Hyewon Park:
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