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Cuong Vu

Cuong Vu is widely recognized by jazz critics as a leader of a new generation of innovative musicians. A truly unique musical voice, Cuong has lent his trumpet playing talents to a wide range of artists including Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Cibo Matto, Mitchell Froom, and Chris Speed. Since moving to New York in 1994, Cuong has been active leading various groups, most notably his trio with Stomu Takeishi (bass) and Ted Poor (drums).

He has toured extensively throughout the world and has given clinics and masterclasses throughout the US and Europe. As a leader, Cuong has released four recordings, “Bound” (OmniTone), “Pure” (Knitting Factory Records), “Come Play With Me” (Knitting Factory Records) and “It's Mostly Residual” (ArtistShare) to critical acclaim, with each one having been considered among the best recordings of their respective years. Each record displays how he has carved out a distinctive sonic territory on the trumpet while blurring all stylistic borders.

Cuong was born on September 19, 1969 in Saigon, Vietnam. He immigrated to Seattle at the age of 6 and began playing the trumpet at the age of 11. His intense dedication and love for music led him to a full scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz studies with a distinction in performance.

A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Cuong was awarded the Colbert Award for Excellence: The Downtown Arts Project Emerging Artist Award and was mentioned as one of the top 50 young Jazz Artists in an article called “The New Masters” from the British magazine, “Classic CD”. In 2002, Cuong was a recipient of the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album as a member of the Pat Metheny Group.

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Album Review

Cuong Vu 4TET: Change in the Air

Read "Change in the Air" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Dopo la collaborazione nello splendido It's Mostly Residual, uscito nel lontano 2005 per la nostra Auand, e Ballet: The Music of Michael Gibbs, del 2017, omaggio al musicista inglese, Cuong Vu torna a collaborare con Bill Frisell, ancora una volta per RareNoise e con il medesimo quartetto del lavoro dello scorso anno. Stavolta, però, in programma solo composizioni originali a firma di tutti i membri del gruppo e una musica dalla spiccata coralità, come esplicitamente testimoniato sia dal leader--che afferma ...

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Album Review

Cuong Vu 4Tet: Change In The Air

Read "Change In The Air" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Seattle-based trumpeter Cuong Vu continues his collaboration with guitarist Bill Frisell that began with It's Mostly Residual (AUAND, 2006). His previous 4Tet release, Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs (RareNoise Records, 2017), was also made by the same personnel. But this time, instead of interpretations of an outside composer, every group member contributes compositionally, including Vu, Frisell, bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Ted Poor. Vu emphasizes that this is very much a collective project; his role as “leader" was basically ...

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Album Review

Cuong Vu 4Tet: Change In The Air

Read "Change In The Air" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Trumpeter Cuong Vu introduced this particular 4tet in 2017, with Ballet: The Music of Michael Gibbs (RareNoiseRecords). An all star affair that included guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Ted Poor, it seemed to signal something of a gentler Cuong Vu, with a music that had a spaciousness, patience and ruminative quality that didn't show in outings like the in-your-face Agogic (Table and Chairs Music, 2011), the deep space electronics of Vu-tet ( ArtistShare, 2017,) or the eerie ...

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Album Review

Cuong Vu: Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs

Read "Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs" reviewed by Nicola Negri


Cuong Vu si muove da sempre in una dimensione stilistica misteriosa, che trae ispirazione tanto dalla tradizione del jazz--non è raro ascoltarlo in concerto rivisitare a suo modo gli standard più classici--quanto dalle correnti più avventurose della downtown scene newyorchese, in cui ha mosso i primi passi a metà anni novanta. Questa capacità di confrontarsi con il linguaggio del jazz tradizionale, di esplorare, scomporre e ricostruire le composizioni altrui per riproporle sotto una nuova luce, è ben presente in Ballet, ...

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Album Review

Cuong Vu: Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs

Read "Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Having recently immersed myself in Miles Davis' In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969) and Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), the journey to the music on trumpeter Cuong Vu's Ballet (The Music of Michael Gibbs) is a necessarily short one. Davis had been working up to his “Freedom Principle" throughout his recordings with is second great quintet, featuring Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. He achieved with his recordings closing out the 1960s, a compromise between the noises of ...

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Album Review

Cuong Vu/4-Tet: Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs

Read "Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


It sounds as if Seattle-based trumpeter Cuong Vu is in the early stages of lining up the jazz guitar gods and recording and releasing an album with each. The year 2015 saw him offer up Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (Nonesuch Records), and 2017 finds him bringing Bill Frisell into his orbit, with Ballet: The Music Of Michael Gibbs. These are two distinct guitar voices, joining in the crafting of two distinctly different sounds. The Metheny collaboration featured--like much ...

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Album Review

Tom Collier: Impulsive Illuminations

Read "Impulsive Illuminations" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Vibraphonist Tom Collier offers up something quite different from his previous Origin Records CDs, where he covered the jazz standards like John Coltrane's “Giant Steps; Miles Davis' “So What," and some seemingly unlikely pop hits: The Rolling Stones “What a Shame" and Brian Wilson's “God Only Knows," alongside his own always engaging compositions. With Impulsive Illuminations, the thirty year University of Washington educator (now retired) explores the world of improvisation with pianist Richard Karpen, in the trio mode, with five ...

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Recording

Nonesuch Releases Two New Recordings from Pat Metheny: The Unity Sessions and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny

Nonesuch Releases Two New Recordings from Pat Metheny: The Unity Sessions and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny

Source: Nonesuch Publicity

The Unity Sessions features Grammy Award-winning Unity Group—Metheny with saxophonist Chris Potter, drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Ben Williams, and multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny joins longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter’s trio with his mentor Nonesuch Records releases a pair of new albums from guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny. Metheny is well- known as a musical collaborator, and both records feature friends and colleagues with whom he has worked for years. The Unity Sessions is taken ...

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Recording

Cuong Vu And Richard Karpen Join Forces On Provocative Ellington/Strayhorn Tribute, Indigo Mist

Cuong Vu And Richard Karpen Join Forces On Provocative Ellington/Strayhorn Tribute, Indigo Mist

Source: Antje Hübner

That The Days Go By And Never Come Again, Scheduled for August Release on RareNoiseRecords Trumpeter-composer Cuong Vu has established himself as a distinctive voice on the new music/improvising scene for his adventurous work over the past 20 years with the likes of guitarist Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny and Laurie Anderson as well as his four recordings as leader. Composer Richard Karpen has earned accolades for his work in the classical field as well as for being a cutting edge ...

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Event

PDX Jazz @ The Mission Theater Presents Cuong Vu, October 26

PDX Jazz @ The Mission Theater Presents Cuong Vu, October 26

Source: DL Media

PDX Jazz, the presenting organization of the Portland Jazz Festival in partnership with The Mission Theater, along with The Crystal Hotel and our media sponsor KMHD Radio, is set to continue the PDX Jazz @ The Mission Theater series with Cuong Vu on Wednesday, October 26th at 8pm. The world renowned Vietnamese trumpeter will be performing with the Seattle-based quartet, Burn List. Burn List is a new collaboration out of Seattle featuring Vu on trumpet, tenor saxophonist Greg Sinibaldi, keyboardist ...

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Interview

Trumpeter Cuong Vu Interviewed at All About Jazz...And More!

Trumpeter Cuong Vu Interviewed at All About Jazz...And More!

Source: All About Jazz

New York may be the major incubator for all that's best in American jazz but there are healthy signs that vibrant scenes are emerging in other cities. In Seattle, there's something going on; an exciting scene is developing around a core of young musicians who see the jazz tradition not as one of emulation, but as essentially one of innovation and progress. The emergence of so many like-minded, forward-thinking jazz musicians in Seattle has much to do with the influence ...

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Recording

Three from Trumpet Wunderkind Cuong Vu (2011)

Three from Trumpet Wunderkind Cuong Vu (2011)

Source: Something Else!

Cuong Vu is a Vietnamese-born, Seattle-raised trumpet player who can be considered a pretty damned impressive and forward thinking just by looking at the list of bandleaders who he impressed enough to have in their bands: Pat Metheny (Group), Dave Douglas, David Bowie and Satoko Fujii put him in their groups at one time or another [read about Vu's contributions to one of the Pat Metheny Group's best latter-day records The Way Up here]. Vu's career has consistently favored going ...

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Recording

Cuong Vu Does More Good Things in Seattle: "Leaps of Faith"

Cuong Vu Does More Good Things in Seattle: "Leaps of Faith"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Cuong Vu has reaped the benefits of a change in place since he moved to Seattle. At least so it seems from the evidence of yesterday's CD (see below) and now another today. This one is his 4-tet, Cuong on trumpet, two electric bassists—Stomu Takeishi and Luke Bergman—and Ted Poor on drums. The CD is titled Leaps of Faith (Origin 82585) and it's a very creative thing going on there. They use delay effects and lots of space. They take ...

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Music Industry

Agogic with Cuong Vu, Andrew D'Angelo: Something Good Going On in Seattle

Agogic with Cuong Vu, Andrew D'Angelo: Something Good Going On in Seattle

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Things have been happening for Cuong Vu since he moved out to Seattle. One of them is Agogic (T & C 001). Maestro Vu's trumpet locks in with Andrew D'Angelo's serpentine alto and bass clarinet, and they are held buoyant by the boldly blistering bass and drums of Luke Bergman and Evan Woodle, respectively. Add some smart avant-funk writing and some very cool interactions and soloing from the front line, mix that up with the boldly assertive, pin-incision precision of ...

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Interview

Q&A: Cuong Vu

Q&A: Cuong Vu

Source: Jazz Online By Joseph Vella

Cuong Vu has been one of the most creative musicians in jazz since the late 1990's. I remember first hearing his album Bound in 2000 and being blown away by the sheer scale of the music featured on that recording. His later album called Come Play With Me was even better. In 2003, I remember seeing him perform brilliantly with Pat Metheny Group—a stint that lasted for many years. What's so exciting about Cuong is that he is unpredictable and ...

157

Recording

Dazzle Recordings to release "Static Line" by Tyler Gilmore's Ninth and Lincoln with Cuong Vu

Dazzle Recordings to release "Static Line" by Tyler Gilmore's Ninth and Lincoln with Cuong Vu

Source: Tyler Gilmore

DAZZLE RECORDINGS PRESENTS “STATIC LINE" BY TYLER GILMORE'S NINTH AND LINCOLN WITH CUONG VU When: June 14th (National Release) Sound Sample Dazzle Recordings is proud to present Static Line, a recording that fuses jazz and experimental influences; all the while exploring the theme of World War II era music and it's role in morale and propaganda of the time. Inspired by his family background and his love of American history, composer/band-leader Tyler Gilmore has constructed a new kind of ...

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Recording

Living Room Spin: Cuong Vu 4-Tet - Leaps of Faith

Living Room Spin: Cuong Vu 4-Tet - Leaps of Faith

Source: Jazz Online By Joseph Vella

One of my favorite pastimes is to gather a few friends in my living room with some good food and drink to hang out and listen to a new jazz recording. Just take it all in and then talk about our impressions of what we heard. So instead of keeping it a small and private affair, I have decided to open my living room and invite the Jazz Online community to participate through an ongoing feature I'm calling the Living ...

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Change in the Air

RareNoiseRecords
2018

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Ballet: The Music Of...

RareNoiseRecords
2017

buy

Cuong Vu Trio Meets...

Nonesuch Records
2016

buy

Impulsive...

Origin Records
2016

buy

That The Days Go By...

RareNoiseRecords
2014

buy

Leaps of Faith

Origin Records
2011

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Odious Mode

From: Impulsive Illuminations
By Cuong Vu

Let's Get Back

From: Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny
By Cuong Vu

Touching Corners

From: Shizaru
By Cuong Vu

Leaps of Faith

From: Leaps of Faith
By Cuong Vu

Brittle, Like Twigs

From: It's Mostly Residual
By Cuong Vu

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