Helen Sung Quartet at Kuumbwa Jazz Center

A prize-winning classical pianist before jazz intervened in the form of a Tommy Flanagan solo, Houston native Helen Sung is blazing her own path. Graduating from the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, she went on to win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Now this dynamic artist is transfixing listeners everywhere – her music swings, it's funky, intelligent, and also has the intricate, elegant textures and dazzling technique of her classical background. Sung incorporates the influences of the masters in an utterly unique way, creating imaginative, modern music that thoroughly captivates...

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A prize-winning classical pianist before jazz intervened in the form of a Tommy Flanagan solo, Houston native Helen Sung is blazing her own path. Graduating from the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, she went on to win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Now this dynamic artist is transfixing listeners everywhere – her music swings, it's funky, intelligent, and also has the intricate, elegant textures and dazzling technique of her classical background. Sung incorporates the influences of the masters in an utterly unique way, creating imaginative, modern music that thoroughly captivates. Her latest album Going Express (Sunnyside Records) reveals “her world: a place of passion, adventure and drama, and truckloads of rhythm…taking audiences for a ride they won’t soon forget” (Kalamazoo Gazette). Take the journey with this rising artist named by Wynton Marsalis as one of his 2011 “Who’s Got Next: Jazz Musicians to Watch”!

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