This was originally posted on blogger.

My first album, 補習BAND, is now released! Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLmNtQG2epzFG2PwtDTz4U9OVDCsiJGG8

I am honored to play with my band-mates. Noé and Etienne both are conservatory graduates, and Leon’s been playing piano since he before could talk.

In the beginning, we had no idea we wanted to record an album. We just wanted to play jazz. We met up weekly and just threw out standards we had played and liked. Like our music, the idea for recording was made up spontaneously. Noé and Leon were leaving Taiwan soon, so we wanted a record of the music we made together. We tightened up our arrangements, honed our improvisations, and recorded on June 4th, 2023.

This album isn’t perfect but it’s something. For me, it serves as a record of where I am in my journey as a musician. Some parts are nice, and some parts make me groan. I know it’ll be a piece of art I look back on in many years and think: wow, I’ve come a long way.

Q&A:

How should you listen to this music? I recommend listening while you’re washing dishes, doing Sudoku or going for a walk.

How do I pronounce 補習BAND? And what does that mean? It’s pronounced “boo” “she” “band”. Like “booo” as in Halloween, “she” as in the female pronoun, and “band” meaning music group. At some point, we four ensemble members were all working at cram schools. The Chinese for that is 補習班 (“boo” “she” “ban”). So the album title is a bilingual homonym.

Why is each song so long? Jazz music is jam-packed with musical content. The “head” of a song is played at the beginning, but that may take just half a minute. The bulk of the time is spent on solos. Each soloist uses the head as a basis for an improvisation however long they want. This makes jazz especially hard to get right on a recording. Then, the head is played again and the song concludes.

Why isn’t it on Spotify? Many of these songs are still under copyright. Which means to put on Spotify or even Bandcamp, you need to buy a “mechanical license” and pay dues for every listen. We didn’t feel like doing that. Our main goal was for friends and family to be able to listen to the music easily. In the future, I might put more time writing my own tunes so I can record and release those instead.

Are you still playing with your bandmates? Sadly, no! Leon is in California and Noé has moved back to France. Etienne and I are still in Kaohsiung, and we play ping pong on the regular. Life is ephemeral. So too is the syzygy required for music creation.

Who recorded and edited the album? Vincent Tsai graciously helped record, edit and master the recording. We also used his studio space for rehearsals. He works as a composer for some video games and is a sound technician at different venues in Kaohsiung City.

Will you make more albums? What are you working on right now? I loved making this album. It as fascinating to be part of the creative process from start to finish and see what professional musicians do on the regular. So I certainly want to do it in the future. For now, though, I’m on a break with the saxophone. I’ve been learning guitar and singing in the evenings. I’m sure my woodwind life will pick up again when the time is right.

What’s your favorite part? These are all jazz standards – classics in the literature of jazz music – that I love. And we put great effort into all of them. I’ve written some additional commentary below.

• All of Me. I play flute! Flute is hard.
• All the Things You Are. A real famous standard. Etienne does a great intro on guitar and play-through of the head.
• Bye-Bye Blackbird. A great choice by Leon. It’s upbeat and jives!
• Days of Wine and Roses. A truly beautiful intro, Bill Evans-style, by Leon on the piano. I jump in during the last minute.
• Footprints. This song is written by a saxophonist, Wayne Shorter, so it’s big “footprints” to step into. I’m proud of my tone and phrasing for the lyrical head. It’s a great song to improvise on!
• Four on Six. This song is groovy! I don’t play on it; felt like a rhythm section thing.
• On Green Dolphin Street. I loved this song. It was an intense soloing moment. You’ll hear some screeching and loud multiphonics on my horn in both takes. I loved playing off Noé’s drum crashes. My one critique of myself is that it wasn’t loud and abrasive enough! So I’ll be working on that.
• Just Friends. Leon sings the head and scats on this! I haven’t accompanied a singer on the saxophone before (you can probably tell). I enjoyed the song and felt energized soloing! It has familiar chords and structure which made it easy.
• Line for Lyons. A really fantastic tune. Probably my favorite head in this whole set. Happy to sink in the pocket with Etienne. Guitar + saxophone is a great combo.
• My Little Suede Shoes. It’s a classic by Charlie Parker. A catchy, relaxing head. My mother listens to it so much, I’m happy to have my own version out there!
• Sandu. Another song where the head is a duet with Etienne and myself. I played this song for an audition way back in high school, but actually struggled with the (relatively simple, blue-form) melody. It swings great and is bluesey. Great soloing by Etienne and me I think. Worth listening the whole way through!
• On the Sunny Side of the Street. I do a slow intro on this song, and sing towards the end. We were going for a “New Orleans”-style blues towards the end. Hence my singing in the crackled voice.