Artist:Helen Sung f/Paquito D'Rivera
Song:Armando's Rhumba
Album:Anthem for a New Day
Since she won the 2007 Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition, jazz pianist Helen Sung has recorded several albums as a leader. She's from Houston. Her parents are Taiwanese immigrants. Helen started studying classical piano at age nine and she attended Houston's High School for the Performing Arts. She earned classical piano degrees at the University of Texas at Austin. The story goes that one day she heard Harry Connick Jr. play piano. That gave her a big jolt and she switched to jazz. Helen studied at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance and the New England Conservatory of Music. She moved to New York and played with Clark Terry, Terri Lyne Carrington, Wayne Shorter, Jon Faddis and she was a member of the Mingus Big Band. She also recorded a couple of albums for the Spanish label Fresh Sounds. After winning the 2007 Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition, Helen has released several albums on Sunnyside Records. Helen's interpretation of the Chick Corea standard Armando's Rhumba is from the 2014 album Anthem for a New Day. This is Helen's only album on Concord. Special guest Paquito D'Rivera plays clarinet. Other musicians are Seamus Blake on sax, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Reuben Rogers on bass, Obed Calvaire on drums and Samuel Torres on percussion. Other special guests are are John Ellis on bass clarinet and violinist Regina Carter. She continues to work with those two on her latest album Quartet+. This 2021 album marks Helen's return to Sunnyside and features special guest The Harlem Quartet string quartet. Many jazz musicians started with classical training but Helen's classical influence is more apparent than most. Here's Helen Sung performing Armando's Rhumba at Seattle radio station KPLU.
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