Cuong Vu Trio live on Blue Lake Public Radio (USA)

[Lazaro Vega]

The Cuong Vu Trio performs live on Blue Lake Public Radio Wednesday, February 15th from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. est. Please join Cuong Vu, trumpet; Stomu Takeishi, bass; and Ted Poor, drums, on WBLV FM 90.3 (Muskegon and the Lake Michigan shoreline)/WBLU FM 88.9 (Grand Rapids, Michigan)/ and streaming live over www.bluelake.org . Jazz Director Lazaro Vega will host and Program Director Steve Albert is broadcast engineer for this performance. There will be no archiving of Vu’s appearance on the Blue Lake web site, though the recording will be available for future broadcast on the radio.

For a full schedule of this tour, and for great photos of Vu on tour with Pat Metheny, see www.cuongvu.com

Bio from www.cuongvu.com

Cuong Vu is widely recognized by jazz critics as a leader of a new generation of innovative musicians. A truly unique musical voice, Cuong has lent his trumpet playing talents to a wide range of artists including Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Cibo Matto, Mitchell Froom, and Chris Speed. Since moving to New York in 1994, Cuong has been active leading various groups, most notably his trio with Stomu Takeishi (bass) and Ted Poor (drums).

He has toured extensively throughout the world and has given clinics and master classes throughout the US and Europe. As a leader, Cuong has released four recordings, “Bound” (OmniTone), “Pure” (Knitting Factory Records), “Come Play With Me” (Knitting Factory Records) and “It's Mostly Residual” (ArtistShare) to critical acclaim, with each one having been considered among the best recordings of their respective years. Each record displays how he has carved out a distinctive sonic territory on the trumpet while blurring all stylistic borders.

Cuong was born on September 19, 1969 in Saigon, Vietnam. He immigrated to Seattle at the age of 6 and began playing the trumpet at the age of 11. His intense dedication and love for music led him to a full scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz studies with a distinction in performance. While at NEC, Cuong was greatly influenced by saxophonist Joe Maneri who encouraged him to push the established sonority and role of the trumpet into areas that had yet to be explored.

A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Cuong was awarded the Colbert Award for Excellence: The Downtown Arts Project Emerging Artist Award and was mentioned as one of the top 50 young Jazz Artists in an article called “The New Masters” from the British magazine, “Classic CD”. In 2002 and 2006, Cuong was a recipient of the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album as a member of the Pat Metheny Group.

Press from www.cuongvu.com

There are few trumpeters in downtown music who play with as much authority as Cuong Vu. His compositions…with their skillfully written sequential episodes through patches of woolliness and calm, are fast gaining pace with his strong tone and improvisational skill.

NY Times

It’s Mostly Residual is more about crafting haunting sounds capes than running scales...So it’s all right, then, that to me It’s Mostly Residual’s title track opens like a dawn-chorus invocation of a sun-and-surf summer’s day, or that “Brittle, Like Twigs” is reminiscent of an urban car chase in which every corner turned reveals a surprise, or that “Blur” appears to meld ambient drone-scapes with the kind of ever-rising melody that wouldn’t be out of place behind the closing scenes of a Hollywood epic.

Georgia Straight

"It's hard to avoid references to Miles Davis when talking about the trumpet, but Cuong is the nearest thing I've heard to someone encapsulating and surpassing Davis' range of textures. Imagine, if you will, Bitches Brew or On The Corner, but with more cinematic clarity and less drug-addled wank. That's where Cuong Vu and his musical juggernaut are sitting, just waiting to crush you. And you'll love it."

Splendidezine.com

[Lazaro Vega]

Cuong Vu Trio on tour right now:

2/13/2006 Philadelphia U of Penn Houston Hall/Bodek Lounge 3417 Spruce Street CV Trio

2/14/2006 Cleveland Passport Project 12801 Buckeye Road CV Trio

2/15/2006 Listen in live at www.bluelake.org FM 88.9 (Grand Rapids, MI), FM 90.3 (Musekgon, MI) CV Trio at 10pm

2/17/2006 Cedar Falls, IA UNI Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center CV Trio

2/18/2006 Cedar Falls, IA UNI Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center CV Trio

2/19/2006 Green Bay FIVE SIX 405 W. Walnut Street CV Trio

2/20/2006 Ann Arbor Kerrytown Concert House 415 North Fourth Avenue CV Trio

2/21/2006 Ann Arbor Univ. or Mich, Room 1321, School of Music CV Trio - Workshop

2/22/2006 Chicago HotHouse 31 E Balbo Ave CV Trio

2/23/2006 Buffalo Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center 341 Delaware Ave CV Trio

2/24/2006 Columbus, OH Acme Art Company 1230 Courtland Ave CV Trio

2/25/2006 Baltimore An Die Musik 409 North Charles St. CV Trio

2/26/2006 Syracuse Jazz Central - 441 E. Washington St. CV Trio

2/27/2006 Eastman School of Music 26 Gibbs St CV Trio Clinic

2/27/2006 Rochester BopShop Atrium 274 Goodman Street North CV Trio

2/28/2006 Boston Berklee College of Music CV - Artist in Residence

[bertrand]

I'm thinking of catching the Baltimore show - do they do all originals?

Bertrand.

[Lazaro Vega]

As far as I can tell from recordings and his web site, yes, all original music.

Maybe you can tune in and see what you think.

[bertrand]

Pathetically, I have absolutely no idea how to do that

[Lazaro Vega]

p.m. arriving from the heliocentric world of cyberspace

[Lazaro Vega]

Yes, that was music from "It's Mostly Residual," Cuong Vu's recent recording. Randy Marsh called from the road to say tonight's live broadcast was like a black belt kung fu battle. Anyone else happen to catch the program live?

Cuong said, "I sweat blood for you tonight."

Drummer Ted Poor with low tuned loud kit playing off inspiration from Jack DeJohnette in hard driving rock vocabulary morphing through into free improv. Are those fat Art Blakey size sticks double AA's?

Electric bass and effects by Stomu Takeishi sounding like multiple overdubs. He is gone to his own world, with an eye on how it contributes to the ensemble effect. And his speaker case will survive next to the roaches. Thing weighs a ton.

Three instrumentalists playing music of gradual but extremely varied ensemble textures and dynamics hung on Vu's compositionally suggested moods.

Special thanks to the grapes of Argentina and the Luberon region of France.

Edited February 16, 2006 by Lazaro Vega

[randissimo]

That was really great music and what interesting people! I drove around aimlessly just diggin' their sounds

I'd love to hear them live. Too bad they couldn't have hooked up with Schuler's or UICA.. I have to teach lessons the nights they are in Ann Arbor.. So it goes....

randissimo

[Joe G]

I'm pretty sure I'll be going to the AA show.

[randissimo]

I'm pretty sure I'll be going to the AA show.

Don' miss 'em.. THEY'RE FUCKIN' BAD!

[Lazaro Vega]

How about an Organissimo/Cuong Vu trio double bill at The Intersection, or the Creole Gallery?????? He wants to come back and play at Schulers, though a club would be ideal with their volume level.

Edited February 17, 2006 by Lazaro Vega

[randissimo]

How about an Organissimo/Cuong Vu trio double bill at The Intersection, or the Creole Gallery?????? He wants to come back and play at Schulers, though a club would be ideal with their volume level.

Maybe we could make that work... It sure would be a great night of musik !

[Joe G]

I'll mention it to him on Monday.