Cuong Vu

Biography

Trumpeter Cuong Vu has gained considerable reputation through his live performances and session use a few of today’s best avant-garde jazz music artists, his membership within the Pat Metheny Group, and his command of the jazztronica trio/quartet also featuring bassist Stomu Takeishi alongside some of the most exciting drummers over the cutting-edge jazz picture. Born right into a musical family members in Vietnam (his mom was a Vietnamese pop vocalist and his dad was a multi-instrumentalist), Vu and his mom shifted to the U.S. and resolved in Seattle, Washington when he was six yrs . old. He became enamored using the saxophone, one of is own father’s instruments, and lastly asked his mom for the trumpet when he was 11. Vu was afterwards awarded a scholarship or grant at the brand new Britain Conservatory of Music, where he examined under Joe Maneri, who acquired a big impact on Vu. While learning in Boston, he was also favorably affected by regional improvised music action the Fringe. After graduating using a B.A. in jazz research, Vu transferred to NY and settled in to the city’s so-called downtown picture through the 1990s, executing with famous brands Dave Douglas, Bobby Previte, Chris Quickness, Andy Laster, Jamie Saft, and Gerry Hemingway. Vu was also an associate of drummer George Schuller’s Orange After that Blue big music group and Jeff Song’s Lowbrow. Furthermore to these tasks, Vu led his personal organizations, including Scratcher and Vu-Tet. March 2000 brought the discharge of his recording Bound (offering percussionist Jim Dark, keyboardist Saft, and bassist Takeishi) within the Brooklyn-based OmniTone label. Exactly the same fall, Pure premiered within the Knitting Manufacturer label; the recording presented the trio of Vu, Takeishi, and drummer John Hollenbeck. A yr later on, the trio released another Knitting Manufacturer recording, Arrive Play with Me. One may have expected the next demise from the Knitting Manufacturer label to decrease Vu’s profile relatively, but rather the trumpeter discovered himself carrying out and documenting for his largest viewers yet after becoming tapped by jazz celebrity Pat Metheny to become listed on the guitarist’s music group. Vu toured thoroughly using the Pat Metheny Group and made an appearance on Metheny’s CDs Talking about Today (2002) and Method Up (2005), both which gained the Grammy Prize for Best Modern Jazz Album because of their respective years. Through the early 2000s Vu also became a member of pianist Myra Melford’s quintet The Tent. In 2005 Vu released IT’S MAINLY Residual, his 4th CD being a head, on japan Intoxicate label. The Compact disc again highlighted Vu and Takeishi, this time around with a fresh drummer, Ted Poor, who propelled the music group forward within the heart of Vu’s prior exemplary percussionists Dark and Hollenbeck (and non-e other than Costs Frisell is highlighted as a visitor star through the entire CD, showing that Pat Metheny had not been the only real high-profile jazz guitarist in a position to discover musical common floor with Vu). Immediately after the discharge of IT’S MAINLY Residual, Vu got note from the declining live viewers for innovative jazz and determined that education of teenagers was crucial to ensuring an essential future picture for daring music; appropriately, he accepted a posture as assistant teacher in jazz research at the College or university of Washington in Seattle, the town where he was raised. This year 2010, 3 years after settling in to the educational environment, he received a Recognized Teaching Award in the school for his effective approach to producing enthusiasm along with a heart of exploration among his learners. In fact, one of is own former U-Washington learners, bassist Luke Bergman, became a member of the Cuong Vu 4-tet for the trumpeter’s following discharge, 2011’s Leaps of Beliefs, an record including interpretations of jazz criteria and a set of pop/rock and roll tunes and in addition offering bassist Takeishi and drummer Poor. The next year, Vu made an appearance for the Cuneiform recording Holy Abyss, a collaborative day led by guitarist Joel Harrison and bassist Lorenzo Feliciati. He spent another five years leading his trio and documenting like a sideman with Eyvind Kang (Alastor: Publication of Angels, Vol. 21) so when a presented soloist (Nearer from the Italian jazz trio Wasabi). In 2016, he and Metheny reunited, albeit in reversed tasks, for the Nonesuch-released Cuong Vu Trio Matches Pat Metheny.

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