The music of Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) explores the vibrations of his history. His most recent releases, Myths of Origin, Soliloquies, Book of Stories, and The Human Rites Trio, have received critical acclaim. Raised during the "melting pot" era of assimilation, Mr. Hwang did not learn Chinese from his immigrant parents, only English. When his parents spoke in Chinese to each other, he would listen intently to glean meaning from their inflection, rhythm, and timbre. Mr. Hwang imagines this musical experience of the Chinese language as the foundation of his creative instincts. In 2020, 2019, 2018, 2013 and 2012, the El Intruso International Critics Poll voted him #1 for Violin/Viola. The 2012 DownBeat Critics' Poll voted Mr. Hwang Rising Star for Violin. His chamber opera The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown was one of the Top Ten Opera Recordings of 2005 by Opera News. Mr. Hwang has received support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and others. As violinist, he has worked with William Parker, Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Joëlle Léandre, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomeka Reid, Anthony Braxton, Patrick Brennan, Steve Swell, Pauline Oliveros, Butch Morris, and others.

How would you describe music?

According to the Laws of Conservation of Energy, energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Therefore, every sound that has ever been heard still exists, perhaps as light, heat, and spirit. Musicians bring sounds from this ether into the resonant world. This is why the avant-garde can feel ancient. Music bridges our unconsciousness into a vibrant awakening, which is an act of truth seeking, giving, sharing, and celebration. Music is our purpose and potential, which offers hope for the future.

What is your relationship to music?

The listening, practice and creation of music is essential to my life. Music centers my purpose. Music helps me see the world clearly. It is a way of life.

What draws you to the instrument(s) you play, and/or to composing?

I am an improviser, playing both the violin and viola. At age 8 I began playing violin, an instrument chosen by my parents, with lessons in the public schools. Later, around 16 years ago, I took up the viola. Each instrument has a unique character and voice that flow into my compositions. I began composing when I began to improvise. The late Will Connell, Jr. encouraged me to compose in our collective quartet, Commitment.

What groups or musical communities have you been part of, and how have they influenced your playing or composing today?

I'm primarily associated with the free jazz community. I've also created and worked with people in the "new" music and contemporary classical scene. Jazz gave me the freedom to believe in myself as myself. Though the cultural institutions of jazz, new and classical music are separate, the creative cross-pollination is organic if not common. Perhaps musicians from different scenes have cultivated different skills to explore specific emotional strata. There are real differences in musicians' backgrounds, which is why I compose for specific individuals, not simply their instruments.

What musician(s) most influenced your approach to music, and why?

There are moments that influence me. Sonny Simmons at the Hell's Kitchen Festival, Anthony Braxton's sopranino at the Knitting Factory, Fred Hopkins at the CBGB's Galleria, Sunny Murray at the FMP Fest, and Oliver Lake at Roulette, to name a few. I'm also influenced by people I have played with. The originality of William Parker, the melodic flow of Butch Morris, the eloquence of Reggie Workman, and many more. I'm especially influenced by Andrew Drury, Ken Filiano, Michael T.A. Thompson, and Anders Nilsson, who are in my bands. The harmonic concepts of Yusef Lateef, Vincent Persichetti, and Olivier Messiaen changed my perception of intervallic constructions and scales. The great musician, Nature, always inspires.

Who or what influences you most outside of music, and why?

Poets I know like Patricia Spears Jones, Bob Holman, and Davida Singer. How they access their personal history with observations that conjure wisdom is inspiring. I love basketball. I admire players that create team synergy, like Jeremy Lin, whom I also respect as an Asian American that broke the barriers of stereotypes. Also for that reason, after reading Nobuko Miyamoto's recent autobiography, she is a powerful role model.

What advice would you give to a young musician entering your field?

Create with honesty and kindness. Respect other musicians. Let go of envy. Focus on what your music can give to others. Create as an aspiration of truth. Believe in your growth.

What do you hope audiences take away from experiencing your music?

Through our collective entrainment within music, a vision of greater compassion and care of each other.

Where do you see the music you're involved in heading in the coming years?

I'm cultivating a total language of freedom that embraces melody, grooves, harmonic structures, and poetic abstractions, to express a musical, narrative landscape, where sounds are born, transform, and vanish to return anew, with greater wisdom.

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