Helen Sung Quartet at Fulkerson Recital Hall

When she was growing up in Houston, Helen Sungs parents wanted her to become a doctor. Luckily for us, she followed her muse instead. She came to jazz after extensive classical training, enrolling in the inaugural class at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Winner of the Kennedy Centers Mary Lou Williams piano competition, she made her way to New York, where she honed her chops with Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, and the Mingus Big Band. With five albums under her belt as a leader, she has a new quartet featuring two of her Mingus bandmates (bassist Boris Koslov and drummer Donald Edwards) and tenor man John Elliss mix of New Orleans roots and New York hip. One reviewer famously said that Sung transports listeners to a place of passion, adventure and drama with truckloads of rhythm. We say: All aboard!...

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When she was growing up in Houston, Helen Sungs parents wanted her to become a doctor. Luckily for us, she followed her muse instead. She came to jazz after extensive classical training, enrolling in the inaugural class at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Winner of the Kennedy Centers Mary Lou Williams piano competition, she made her way to New York, where she honed her chops with Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, and the Mingus Big Band. With five albums under her belt as a leader, she has a new quartet featuring two of her Mingus bandmates (bassist Boris Koslov and drummer Donald Edwards) and tenor man John Elliss mix of New Orleans roots and New York hip. One reviewer famously said that Sung transports listeners to a place of passion, adventure and drama with truckloads of rhythm. We say: All aboard!

"[After] a decade's worth of crisp, conscientious, decorous albums, Anthem For a New Day is...a leap forward, the first full measure of her identity."
Nate Chinen, New York Times

With John Ellis, tenor sax; Boris Koslov, bass; Terreon Gully, drums

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