Home » Jazz Musicians » Yuwen Peng

Yuwen Peng

Yuwen Peng is a pianist, composer and the founder of Taiwanese sextet Sizhukong. After graduating in Sociology at the University of Taiwan she moved to Boston to study at Berklee, where she graduated in jazz composition in 2005. With her heightened appreciation for jazz, Peng returned to Taiwan and formed Sizhukong, a fusion of Chinese traditional music and modern sounds, influenced by jazz and African rhythms.

The band’s first album, Sizhukong, was released in 2007, followed by Paper Eagle in 2009. In 2010, Peng began incorporating new sounds in the band’s music by using electric guitar, electric keyboards as well as flirting with electronics. Sony signed up the band, and 2012 saw the release of Sizhukong’s third album, Spin.

With Peng steering the band through new musical waters, Sizhukong have played jazz festivals throughout Asia. In March 2012, the band was invited to perform several dates in Canada, as part of Canadian Music Week (CMW). The response from fans and other musicians was extremely positive.

Peng’s jazz-influenced piano may be at the helm of the band, but she draws heavily from Taiwanese and Chinese folk tradition as a basis for her compositions. Now, with a more modern brand of jazz-fusion coloring the music, Peng has once more reinvented Sizhukong.

Tags

6
Interview

Yuwen Peng: Putting a Spin on Sizhukong

Read "Yuwen Peng: Putting a Spin on Sizhukong" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Yuwen Peng doesn't like resting on her laurels. The pianist, composer and founder of Taiwanese sextet Sizhukong had already taken a bold step in integrating Western instruments, African music and jazz harmonies with traditional Taiwanese and Chinese folk songs on Sizhukong's self-titled debut recording in 2007. The follow-up to that, Paper Eagle (Sizhukong Records, 2009), followed a very similar pattern, though the refinement in the band's sound was notable. More of the same wouldn't have been a ...

Read more articles
"Spin marks the boldest move that Sizhukong has yet made. If the band's first album ruffled the feathers of the purists in Taiwan, then Spin will have them huffing and puffing some more. Peng's sense of adventure is steering the quintet into exciting new territory, and with all sorts of collaborations now evidently possible, there's the likelihood of greater adventures yet to come." - All About Jazz

"Jazz's first century has thrown up few examples of Chinese folk music which has found new voice in this idiom. Buck Clayton, in collaboration with Li Jinhui, spent two years in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, adapting Chinese folk music to ballroom jazz, but nothing was recorded

Read more

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Hand In Hand

Feeling Good Records Co.
2017

buy

Spin

Sony Music
2012

buy

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.