LA HABITACIÓN DEL JAZZ
INTERVIEW:
LHJ: Jazz is, to some extent, minority, so is
the vibraphone in jazz. Do you like challenges?
YS: I love challenges, because that brings
something new and exciting. It may lead to somewhere you never thought you
would arrive and experience. Vibraphone is indeed a minority instrument in Jazz
or in music in general. I like to look it in a way as possibilities. For the
love of this instrument and jazz music, I want to create more colors, textures,
layers, and intensity to the music by this instrument.
LHJ: Has living in the USA helped you to launch
your artistic career?
YS: Totally. I started to focus on jazz,
improvising, and composing career since I moved to USA. I currently live in New
York. Being surrounded by lots of amazing musicians and artists whole time
really helps me to shape my own artist vision in a fast speed. And I was
fortunate to have saxophone virtuoso Greg Osby to release my debut album in his
record label Inner Circle Music.
LHJ: Your education is principally classic, but
your artistic career is related to jazz. Are those two worlds as different as
they seem or do they have something in common?
YS: For me, it’s all music in the end. Having
classical music training coming earlier in my life really helps me to have
strong foundation of instrumental skills. It’s like when you learn your mother
language since you were born. I feel very lucky to have this background to be
the core of my creative world. And leading to studying Jazz and improvising
music completes me to really find a way to speak for myself and putting things
into perspectives.
LHJ: Music is often defined as something
emotional, cerebral and, above all, lyrical. Do you share this definition?
YS: I do. One part of my main desire to write
and play music is to remember the moments, remembering the feels, how the world
looks or smells like, remembering some important people. And we create new dialogue with the memories
with ourselves, with the band and the audience.
LHJ: When you are composing, do other kinds of
art, like literature or dance, inspire you?
YS: Yes, there are some songs inspired by
novels, song inspired by my watercolor painting experiences. This year I
particularly play a lot of music for dance. I have to make music related to body
movements constantly. So there is a new song of mine we will perform in the
festival, it’s called Feet Dance. It’s my imagination of having the camera
zooming in to the feet part and having a bit fun and adventure with it.
LHJ: You are an enthusiastic of the marimba, an
African instrument. Does your music have African influences?
YS: I play lots of marimba music while I studied
classical music. It’s a beautiful instrument with such a warm and large sound
like forest. I won’t say my music directly influenced by African, but I think
this instrument has lots to do with grooves in its nature. And that’s what I
love to play too.
LHJ: How much does working with an important
discographic (Inner Circle) matters in terms of developing a musical career?
YS: Inner Circle Music features lots of jazz
musicians with strong individual voices and I really share the center artistic
idea of the label of being fearless in a creative world. I’m very grateful to
have started my music journey with the label. Thanks to this, my music could
gotten notice in a early period of my career.
LHJ: Your first CD, Flying Alone (2013),
received a lot of awards and nominations. What makes this second CD, A Room of
One’s Own (2016), different from Flying Alone?
YS: A Room of One’s Own, I went deeper with my
narrative writing ideas. There are compositions with different movements. My
youth dream was to be an novelist. I always enjoy writing and describing
concepts in varied angles. And the second album features my quintet in New York
that we’ve been working together for few years. I love how the sounds flow
between musicians. I’m planning on recording my next album in few months. And
it will be quite different as well!
LHJ: How important is improvisation for you?
YS: Improvisation is very important for me. I
love creating things and it also connects me with people, with other musicians.
And we don’t improvise based on nothing, it takes lots of study to know more
traditions of any kinds of music which a lot of time is based on improvisations.
So it always goes both ways. I love it because I never get bored. And in able
to not get bored of myself, I learn more.
LHJ: Quintets and sextets for wind instruments,
electric guitar, trios or duos with violin or double bass... You like innovation,
acoustic and electronic. Your versatility is fantastic. Does it have any
limits?
YS: Hopefully not! I love varieties. Just like
learning cultures, languages, knowing more people in a musical way.
Yuhan Su actúa en quinteto dentro de Jazz Círculo en la
Cafetería "La Pecera" del Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid.
26 octubre 2017
21:30h
