Elmhurst resident Helen Sung discovered jazz music while in high school and now describes it as her first love.
A native of Houston, Texas, Sung began playing the piano and violin when she was five years old. When she was just three or four, she had a red plastic piano that she carried around. Sung’s mother said that she used to hear Sung play tunes that she heard on TV or the radio and thought music would be something she would be interested in.
“I guess it was kind of decided for me at that early age,” said Sung, who moved to Elmhurst in 1999.
Originally, Sung intended on becoming a concert pianist. However, while a junior at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, she discovered jazz.
A friend took her to see a Harry Connick, Jr. concert where he was performing with his big band. He also played two solo piano pieces. Sung said she was blown away by the show and thought that form of music seemed fun, adding that she had not previously realized it was possible to approach the piano in that way.
Around that same time, a faculty member of the school gave a concert where he performed jazz on the piano.
Sung said that after those two concerts she wanted to find out more about jazz since she had never been exposed to it before. She said that, along with some other classical music majors, she began take a beginner’s jazz class.
Sung went on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music’s Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance as a member of its inaugural class.
February was a “great month” for Sung as she was busy as both a sideman and a band leader. On February 6, Sung performed in a duo concert with bassist Ron Carter as part of the “Harlem in the Himalayas” series at the Rubin Museum of Art.
Sung and her band, made up of saxophonist Seamus Blake, bassist Lonnie Plaxico and drummer Eric Harland, recently did a live recording at Jazz Standard. This marked a first for the band.
In addition, on February 27, Sung debuted her new project “Sung With Words” at the International Arts Movement Encounter 09 Conference. Featuring vocalist Carolyn Leonhart, Sung performed original music while Leonhart sang poems.
Along with her performances, Sung has three solo albums under her belt. They are “Push,” “Helenistique,” and “Sungbird (After Albeniz).”
Sung’s new group NuGenerations will tour for a month in east and south Africa beginning in April and ending May. They will be musical ambassadors as part of the U.S. State Department’s Rhythm Road Program, which is administered by Jazz at Lincoln Center.
When Sung was a jazz student, she said she once heard someone say that a “great artist makes music beyond category” while they were leading a master class. In the future, she said she wants to do work that is “authentically me” and always have the courage to do so.
Another thing that Sung would like to do at some point in her career is to write music on a larger scale for orchestras or the movies. She also wants to continue to grow as a musician and artist.
Sung pointed out that many prominent figures in jazz, such as Louis Armstrong, have lived in Queens.
“Queens really has a rich history in the jazz world,” Sung said. “I hope the Queens community as a whole will just embrace jazz and support the music because it’s America’s music.”
For more information on Helen Sung, visit www.helensung.com or www.myspace.com/helensung.
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