Beijing Trio

Released 1999

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1. Moon Over the Great Wall
2. Sweet Whisper of a Flower
3. Heart in a Different Place
4. Fallen Petals
5. Now's the Time!
6. When the Blossoms Bloom
7. The Flowing Stream

From North Carolina to North China to Northern California, three world-renowned musical innovators challenge all boundaries between genres set by the mainstream musical press. In the Beijing Trio Chinese-American pianist Jon Jang unifies the Chinese folk songs of erhu virtuoso Jiebing Chen and the legendary percussion of Max Roach to create a riveting aural portrait in creative musical exploration.

The Beijing Trio features a landmark collaboration focused on the exploration of new creative vistas in African-American, Chinese-American, and Chinese musical traditions. As described in the album liner notes by Dr. Herb Wong: "All three are master storytellers taking advantage of an intimate conversational approach...tightly attuned to the nuances of each other's feelings, personalities, and inner souls, the trio illustrates how simpatico players can relieve tension and allow passage for individuality and spontaneous imagination. In the end the result is music which blends culture with the spectrum of human emotion and it's expression through sound. In the words of Dr. Wong, "Clearly this was a triumph and an enticing preview of things to come."

The Beijing Trio features Max Roach (drums), Jon Jang (piano), and Jiebing Chen (erhu, two stringed Chinese violin).