Music for the River Jazz Suite

"Music for the River Jazz Suite: The Spirit of Love River & Mississippi River" is an innovative new work by award-winning bassist and composer Vincent Hsu, who dedicates it to and finds common ground between two seemingly disparate great rivers: Love River of Hsu’s hometown of Kaohsiung, Taiwan and the Mississippi River, integral to the birth of jazz. Fused with Afro-Cuban undertones, of which Hsu has played extensively for most of his career, "Music for the River Jazz Suite" is truly a singular and unique work of cultural and musical fusion.

The seeds for this incredibly creative project were planted over 15 years ago, when Hsu visited New Orleans for the first time. It was 2007, and Hsu took his first trip on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. “I got to thinking about how jazz has been played on the boat since the 1920s. I also saw how the movement and the waves of the river share the same kind of motion of jazz music when it comes to the swing feel,” he shares. Observing that the Mississippi River passes through so many important musical cities such as Nashville, Memphis, and Clarksdale, he began composing works inspired by the river itself. Eventually, this led him to draw parallels to Love River, a 7.5 mile river known as the spine of Kaohsiung, his birthplace in Taiwan. “I wanted to connect the stories of my upbringing with my musical influences.”

Hsu’s fourth album as a bandleader allows listeners to hear Hsu's deeply emotive and soulful compositions brought to life by a large ensemble (12-piece band) for the very first time. This album also captures the raw thrill of the concert atmosphere, recorded live at Taiwan's Weiwuying Recital Hall.

Its expansive and complex sonic palette comes from unique instrumentation that marries strings, horns and Latin percussion. The band’s personnel, not unlike the music performed, reflects the globalization of jazz at its finest as the ensemble features 10 Taiwanese musicians and a pair of musicians from Argentina and Germany.