Pianist Helen Sung has been called “one of the brightest emerging stars in jazz today.” Her music is described as “marvelously imaginative,” “astonishing;” and her CD Helenistique (Fresh Sound Records) was praised as “…one of the year’s most exciting listens.” (JazzTimes). With a new CD (Sungbird, after Albéniz) on Sunnyside Records and winning the Kennedy Center’s 2007 Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition, good things are happening! Of Chinese heritage and a native of Houston, Texas, Helen attended Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). Originally an aspiring classical pianist, Helen was bitten by the jazz bug while pursuing undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She decided to switch to jazz after being accepted into the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. An intensive program accepting only seven students (forming a jazz septet), the Institute proved to be an unprecedented opportunity to study and perform with some of the greatest masters of jazz music. The septet performed with Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Jackie McLean, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and James Moody; and studied with such artists as Ron Carter (artistic director of the program), Barry Harris, David Baker, Slide Hampton, Lewis Nash, Jon Faddis, Curtis Fuller, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Bennie Maupin, and Sir Roland Hanna. The class toured India and Thailand with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, performed at the Kennedy Center, and presented educational workshops for students. After graduating from the Institute in 1997, Helen dove into the Boston area jazz scene – some highlights include presenting a jazz music workshop with the late, acclaimed bassist Ray Brown, performing with fellow artists at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and being featured on local television shows. She also taught a group piano class for low-income elderly adults sponsored by New England Conservatory’s Continuing Education Program & the YMCA Helen presently lives in New York City, and has gone on to work with such jazz masters as Clark Terry, Steve Turre, and legendary composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter – and with such jazz luminaries as Regina Carter, Steve Wilson, and T.S.Monk. She has also performed with such big bands as the Charles Mingus Big Band, Diva, and is a current member of Clark Terry’s “Big Badd” Big Band. In addition to her work as a sideman, Helen is steadily gaining prominence as a bandleader. She was a featured guest on Marian McPartland’s acclaimed NPR Piano Jazz show and XM Satellite’s In the Swing Seat w/Wynton Marsalis. In print, Helen has feature pieces in such publications as Downbeat, JazzTimes, JazzIz, and AllAboutJazz-New York. Her band works both nationally & internationally, performing at venues & festivals including the Kennedy Center’s 2008 Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, the 2008 Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, the 2008 Vermont Mozart Festival, Marian’s Jazzroom (Bern Jazz Festival), the 2008 Jazz Lucca Donna (Italy), the American Jazz Museum’s ‘Blue Room,’ Cleveland’s Tri-C Jazz Festival, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and New York City’s finest jazz clubs. Her experience at the Monk Institute inspires her to remain committed to educational endeavors; she performs for arts organizations (including JazzReach) and presents clinics at colleges and universities. Helen’s band also conducted a jazz residency program (made possible by a Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation grant) benefiting underserved youth in Camden, NJ. |
