One of the centerpieces of the Celebrate Asia concert at Benaroya Hall on Feb. 24 is the composition “One,” performed by the Cuong Vu Group. Jazz fans will know the name, because Seattle’s Vu is one of the jazz world’s luminaries. “The voracious sweep of postmillennial jazz has plenty of exemplars but few truer than trumpeter Cuong Vu,” The New York Times recently wrote. His music has been called “an apt tone poem for the 21st century,” “dreamlike” and “brilliant.”

Vu was commissioned to write “One” as an ode to another local luminary, Quincy Jones. Ibuki editor Bruce Rutledge chatted with Vu over email ahead of the concert.

Ibuki: From where do you derive your inspiration? Who are your musical heroes or mentors?  
Vu: Everyone whose music ever resonated with me, from Beethoven to Radiohead to Abba to Billy Joel to Ligeti to Bach to David Bowie to Deerhoof to Sly Stone to Mozart to Clifford Brown to Public Enemy to Lester Young, et cetera.
Specifically though, the greatest teacher, who really opened the door to everything important to me today, was a brilliant composer/improviser named Joe Maneri.  After that, it's been my peers who I've worked with over the last 20 years.

Ibuki: How would you describe the current music scene in Seattle/Bellevue these days? Is it a good place for a young jazz musician?
Vu: I don't really see an artistic music scene that is forward pushing or striving for innovation in Bellevue.  Without those two elements, music is dead to me.  Mozart had it, Bach had it, Louis Armstrong had it. That ain't happening in Bellevue. There are some people trying to do something about that, but as of now, Bellevue is a non-reality-based bubble protecting itself with an incredible amount of wealth in a consumer/product type of community, so it won’t see any art of real substance occurring as a "scene" there.
There have always been great players in Seattle, but something happened in the late eighties that stunted and even caused a decline in the scene. I've talked to some of the players who were the stars of that time and they agree, even if most everyone is hesitant to openly talk about it.  However, there is now a new movement of youngsters who are in it for all the right reasons and are forging a new and vibrant scene again rooted in music as art. It is some of the best music to be coming out anywhere in a long time.  They (we all) need some help whether it's via publicity or finances to sustain this energy, make it grow and imbed it into the consciousness of this region so that noncommercial, creative art music can thrive again.  If it doesn't happen, we're all going to have to live on the McDonald's of music permeating our aural universe, and that's as bad for your intellect and spirit as McDonald's food is for your body.

ibuki: You've played with an interesting array of musicians. David Bowie, Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson ... the list goes on and on. What are your highlights (and lowlights, if you care to share them) of playing as a backing musician?
Vu: It's weird…all of the good memories/experiences become one big happy thought, and it's almost impossible to put one above another. In a similar way, all the bad stuff becomes one jumbled mess that I can't really remember nor distinguish. I forget how bad things were, even though I know that at the time, they felt like the end of the world.  So I end up forgetting them unless they pop back into my consciousness out of nowhere.  So…long answer short…I can't really specifically remember either!
But the forging of relationships with the other band members and the people who we met while traveling to places I'd never been before trumps everything.  And most of it revolves around food!  So some of the highlights would be Mexico City, Seoul, Hong Kong, Italy, Austria.

Ibuki: You have established yourself as a band leader. What do you look for when filling out a group? What sort of musicians do you like to play for?
Vu: I have to absolutely love their music to even consider working with them, and we have to have an overlap in our thoughts on music and our approach to music. Then I have to trust that they trust me and my musical agenda and that they understand my opinionated thoughts on music and my intent and approach. Then the chemistry between members has to be really good. We have to enjoy being around each other as people because that is the source for the music and the chemistry. I need to be direct about what I want, so it's easier when the members are understanding, empathetic and thick-skinned.

Ibuki: I've been listening to Leaps of Faith ahead of writing you, and I find it amazing and inspiring. Can you tell us a little about the recording process? It was recorded live in Seattle, right?
Vu: Thanks! The process for recording is the same for me for all of my records, which is to rehearse the pieces a lot, tour so that we can get into the discoveries about the pieces and refine our approach in a heightened state of awareness that can only happen in a live performance context. Then we go into the studio for two, three days and play the pieces as if we're playing them live. The main difference, which is a huge difference, for Leaps of Faith is that it is a live performance where I selected the takes from three performances over three days.  So we get the energy, reaction and support from the audience and we are in that heightened state of awareness that we can't fabricate in the sterile environment of a studio. We did lose the advantage that the studio offers where we can do two to three consecutive takes per tune with microscopic listening after each take. That really helps us to zero in on and solve any of the musical problems that we may not be aware of in real time. It's a trade-off that is worthwhile if I feel like the group is really prepared (and we were for Leaps), so it worked out well this time around.

Ibuki: How would you describe the music you create?
Vu: It takes so much energy and thought to describe what I'm trying to do because words don't get close enough (not to mention that I'm not that good with words in the first place).  I'm never able to get anywhere close to being accurate. But I did come up with a term 15 years ago to say to interviewers and critics. What I do is jazz/classical/contemporary-classical/avant-garde informed, instrumental/experimental/rock music. How's that?

Ibuki: You are a jazz star, and yet I hear you choose to live in Seattle, not New York. Why?
Vu: After almost 20 years of being on the East Coast, I had put in the time "payin' dues" and accomplished some things that I set out to do and it was time to come home.  I love it here. People who aren't from here don't understand and it's hard to explain. The air, the water, the mountains…it's incredible here. I felt that it was time for a change. I also had an incredibly strong urge to contribute to educating young listeners and musicians to the innovations that have been overlooked in the past 30 years, and the University of Washington School of Music has provided me that incredible vehicle, the resources and the support to do it.

Ibuki: What should the audience at Celebrate Asia expect from you? Your group is performing "One." What can you tell us about it?
Vu: The piece was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony for its Sonic Evolution series. I was asked to write a piece that reflects the legacy of Quincy Jones. That turned out to be incredibly hard! I wanted something connective to his work, not just an abstract commentary on his music. So I actually used some musical themes and characteristics from some of his works that resonated most with me. These elements are not a dominant part of my musical vocabulary or aesthetics, so it was tough to manipulate them into something that I could call my own while retaining their identity and in turn his musical identity...at least to my ears, anyway. While the finished product is pretty much in line with most of my music, the parameters of the commission affected the outcome of how I conceived the music, and some of these musical characteristics would normally not find their way into my music. There will be some sounds and approaches that the audience will have not been exposed to before, and I hope that they come into it with open ears and minds.

Ibuki: After Celebrate Asia, what do you have planned for 2012?
Vu: I have a couple of projects going on right now that I will be focusing on much more intently (most of my time has been dedicated to my four-month-old daughter and her mother). One project is a band called Burn List and one is a really challenging project that I'm working closely on with Richard Karpen (an amazing electro-acoustic composer and a fantastic improviser on piano and the director of the UW School of Music). I'm extremely excited about both projects. We will record them and should have the recordings released before the end of 2012.

------ Interview by Ibuki editor Bruce Rutledge in December 2011

Celebrate Asia
Friday, February 24th 2012 |  At Benaroya Hall in Seattle
Now in its fourth year, Celebrate Asia showcases the musical traditions of both East and West in a spectacular celebration of our region’s diverse Asian community. Pre-concert performances start at 6:30pm. This year, the concert features Mei Ann Chen (conductor), Jie Ma (pipa), HAHN-BIN (violin) and Cuong Vu (trumpet) in addition to the Seattle Symphony.

Info: http://www.celebrateasia.org/