Helen Sung

Helen Sung - pianoChristie Dashiell - guest vocalistGary Thomas - saxophone & fluteDavid Wong - bassDarrell Green - drums Winner of the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition and 2019 Jazz Artist-in-Residence for Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, pianist/composer Helen Sung has worked with jazz luminaries including the late Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Regina Carter, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Cecile McLorin Salvant. An aspiring classical piano and violin student in her native Houston, Texas, before encountering jazz during undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, Sung went on to graduate from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (at the New England Conservatory). Now based in New York City, she maintains a schedule of performing, touring, recording, and teaching. Sung has six bandleader albums to her name, but her most recent release Sung With Words might end up being her most celebrated to date. Made possible by a 2014 Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation New Jazz Works grant, the project is the result of a collaboration between Sung and former National Endowment Chairman and California State Poet Laureate Dana Gioia. Showcased on NPR’s First Listen and the NPR/WBUR news program Here & Now, Sung With Words has also been lauded in such jazz publications as Downbeat and Jazztimes for its imaginative settings of Gioia’s poetry, whose work has been described as “resonant with music.” Utilizing jazz and poetry as catalysts to create new music, Sung With Words is a multi-movement work of original vocal songs and instrumental compositions (inspired by words) exploring themes of the human condition: love, wonder, betrayal, melancholy and mystery. For her appearance at The Side Door, Helen brings a top-notch band featuring vocalist Christie Dashiell, bassist David Wong, drummer Darrell Green, and special guest Gary Thomas on saxophone/flute. Find out more about Helen at www.helensung.com