Dominic Duval & Jason Kao Hwang

The Experiment

EXIL Musik 9631-2
LC 08972

THE DOROTHY FACTOR

"Just a view from the other side. Her trip to Kansas is not unlike mine, My Kansas, the recording studio. Picture this. Three people in a room surrounded by all types of recording gear, two large speakers peering down at the musicians and an out-of-control engineer. Then add the factor of the unknown. The improvisation holding the music captive while engineer Dave Kowolski plays his gadgets as if Frankenstein`s monster is being created in a low budget movie at that very place. There you have it. That's all you need to know about the process.

The concept for this cd is simple. There is none other than the ride itself. Here is this house spinning, spinning, spinning out of control. Then all of a sudden, BAMM!!! It lands in a large field. Well, who comes marching out the front door? Yup, you guessed it; some wind-blown vision, named Dorothy. Well, she looks around and says those famous words, "Toto ,this certainly isn't Kansas". The scenery is now in bright colors after being black and white up 'til then. Of course, that wasn't Kansas and neither is this music! Welcome, to the land of Oz. Musically speaking that is!" - Dominic Duval

Dominic Duval

New Yorker Dominic Duval is one of the finest and most prolific bassists on the contemporary scene, having played and recorded with some of the greatest names in jazz and new music. Duval's recent tenure with pianist Cecil Taylor's trio has cemented his reputation as one of free jazz's important figures. The bassist has performed and recorded with such notables as saxophonists Joe McPhee, Ivo Perelman, Glen Spearman, Chris Kelsey, and Mark Whitecage, composer Pauline Oliveros, trombonist Steve Swell, pianists Joseph Scianni and Michael Stevens, trumpeter Herb Robertson, and drummer Paul Lytton, among many others. Duval leads and co-leads a number of ensembles himself, including the critically-acclaimed C.T. String Quartet, Trio X, "The Wedding Band", and the Dominic Duval String Ensemble. Duval's solo bass CD, Night Bird Inventions, was a Top 10 pick in the Coda Magazine critics poll, and his String Ensemble CD, State of the Art, was chosen one of the year's best in the Jazziz Magazine poll. He has recently led an ensemble which toured Germany as part of the Kassel Dock 4 Festival, and participated in the summer of 1999 Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival in New York City.

Jason Kao Hwang

American-born Chinese composer/violinist Jason Kao Hwang's ensemble, The Far East Side Band (with Sang Won Park, Joe Daley and Satoshi Takeishi),has released two CDs, URBAN ARCHAELOGY on Victor Records and CAVERNS on New World Records. The Far East Side Band has performed both here and abroad, including the Beijing International Jazz Festival. Mr. Hwang has recorded with numerous artists including Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris and Reggie Workman. Mr. Hwang has also performed with Makanda Ken MacIntyre, Vladamir Tarasov, Diedre Murray, Michelle Kinney, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Denis Charles, Jerome Cooper, Sirone and many others. His commissioned works include AN OCEAN AT THIS MOMENT, a one act opera; IMMIGRANT OF THE WOMB, an operatic poem; PEACH FLOWER LANDSCAPE, an acappella work for mixed choir for the Nai Ni Chen Dance Company; two feature length documentary films for PBS, Sue Williams' CHINA: BORN UNDER THE RED FLAG and Judith Vecchione's TUG OF WAR: THE STORY OF TAIWAN.; and source music for Martin Scorcese's film KUNDUN. Mr. Hwang's composition FLIGHT OF WHISPERS, performed by Music for Homemade Instruments, was recently been released on CRI's, "eXchange China".