Helen Sung Quartet at Kuumbwa Jazz Center

Helen Sung’s classical piano background enhances her approach to jazz improvisation and composition with stunning results. In the late ’90s she was on the fast track to becoming a classical concert pianist. That was before an epiphany in the form of a Tommy Flanagan piano solo set her on a new path. Immersing herself in the jazz canon, she studied everyone from Jelly Roll Morton to Keith Jarrett and enrolled at the Thelonious Monk Institute (New England Conservatory) where she studied with jazz legends Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Sung has recorded six critically acclaimed albums under her name, including the recent, Anthem For A New Day...

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Helen Sung’s classical piano background enhances her approach to jazz improvisation and composition with stunning results. In the late ’90s she was on the fast track to becoming a classical concert pianist. That was before an epiphany in the form of a Tommy Flanagan piano solo set her on a new path. Immersing herself in the jazz canon, she studied everyone from Jelly Roll Morton to Keith Jarrett and enrolled at the Thelonious Monk Institute (New England Conservatory) where she studied with jazz legends Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Sung has recorded six critically acclaimed albums under her name, including the recent, Anthem For A New Day. Her stellar quartet includes Walter Smith III (tenor saxophone); Reuben Rogers (bass); and Donald Edwards (drums).

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