Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Crossing East: Jon Jang Music Feature

JON JANG
Script

HOST: I?M DMR WITH THE CROSSING EAST MUSIC FEATURE.

PIANIST JON JANG?S FIRST INSTRUMENT WAS ACTUALLY THE SNARE DRUM WHICH HE PLAYED TO SOUSA MARCHES IN THE SCHOOL BAND IN 4TH GRADE. AFTER LISTENING TO JOHN COLTRANE IN HIS TEEN YEARS, HE WAS INSPIRED TO PLAY JAZZ.

JANG: When I heard the music of John Coltrane, specifically the live version of my favorite things, I wore out the record. And in high school I had a history teacher, he knew I was interested in music. He gave me the book ?blues people? and I learned how the music was related to life. The basic premise was as the lives of African Americans change, the music changed. So the music was about changing tradition.

HOST: CHANGING TRADITIONS IS WHAT JANG END UP DOING THROUGH HIS MUSIC. GROWING UP IN THE 70?S IN MIDDLE CLASS SUBURBAN PALO ALTO. HE COULD COUNT THE NUMBER OF ASIAN KIDS IN HIS SCHOOL ON ONE HAND. BUT THE TIMES DEMANDED HE REACH OUTSIDE OF HIS SURROUNDINGS.

JANG: People were looking outside the leave it to beaver mentality and saying the changes going on all over the world. There were the student movement, oppressed nationalities, women?s movement, gay and lesbian movement, there were a number of movements where people were sharply redefining society. And part of it as an American born Chinese I said who am I? And to know that I had to know where I came from.

(PLAY 2 FLOWERS)

HOST: JANG STUDIED AT OBERLIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC AND STARTED PLAYING PIANO AT 19.

JANG: I just loved music. I wasn?t conscious about whether I was going to make a career out of it. I was under a lot of pressure to keep up because most of the piano performance students had started younger and they had the best pianos, the best teachers. So I had to keep up.

HOST: TO KEEP UP HE BEGAN PERFORMING WITH OTHER MUSICIANS. JANG CREATED A PATH FOR HIMSELF HE CALLS ?TWO FLOWERS ON A STEM??THE SYMBIONIC RELATIONSHIP OF HIS CULTURAL IDENTITY WITH HONORING TRADITON WHILE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES. LATER HE USED THAT METAPHOR FOR THE TITLE OF A SONG HE DEDICATED TO HIS MOTHER WHO RAISED HIM ALONE. HIS FATHER DIED TRAGICALLY IN A PLANE CRASH WHEN JANG WAS TWO YEARS OLD.

JANG: I dedicated ?Two Flowers on a Stem? to my mother because at the end of the theatrical run of the woman warrior in January 1995, the brother of my father?s best friend told me the story that my father?s?the funeral service for my father in 1956 was denied at the Glendale cemetery because my family was Chinese. There was no body of my father. It was burnt to ashes. So my family had to hold funeral services at Hollywood hills.

(PLAY PAPER SONS CD)

HOST: JANG HAS BEEN A MUSIC ACTIVIST AS WELL. WITH FRIEND AND FELLOW MUSICIAN FRANCIS WONG, THEY FORMED ASIAN IMPROV RECORDS TO GIVE YOUNG ASIAN ARTISTS IN JAZZ MORE OPPORUNITIES.

JANG: The model for me was Paul Robeson. He was an artist citizen. He wasn?t trying to be political but if part of your purpose is to find out who you are and where you come from you need to be satisfied within yourself. For me it?s always going back to history and seeing how that relates to the present.

HOST: JON JANG?S NEW CD IS PAPER SONS WHERE HE CONTINUES TO INVESTIGATE ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND THE LESSONS TO BE REMEMBERED.

JANG: My greatest failure is my greatest success because failure is an aspect of discovery. If you don?t try to live your dreams you?re not living.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JON JANG GO TO CROSSING EAST.ORG

THIS CROSSING EAST MUSIC FEATURE WAS PRODUCED WITH FUNDING BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. I?M DMR.

(MUSIC OUT)