Sizhukong: Spin
By IAN PATTERSON,
Published: August 30, 2012
Sizhukong Spin
Sony Music
2012
Taiwanese
band Sizhukong has come a long way in five years since its debut recording, Sizhukong
(Sizhukong Music, 2007). Blending jazz idioms with traditional
Taiwanese/Chinese folk music, that record announced the arrival of a unique
Asian ensemble, whose exciting, highly lyrical playing sounded not just newly
minted, but newly conceived. Pianist/leader Yuwen Peng had recently graduated
from Berklee and wove her flowing jazz lines throughout the exotic mix. And, in
a captivating collaboration with South African mbira/djembe player and singer
Mogauwane Mahloelo, Peng showed that the band was open to all music.
Paper
Eagle (Sizhukong Music, 2009) didn't radically alter the blueprint but
it did take things up a notch, with the band further exploring the crossroads
between Taiwanese/Chinese and African music, and adding certain Latin flavors
to the brew. The addition of Dutch double bassist/composer Martijn Vanbuel—with
original electric bassist Toshi Fujii switching to drums/percussion—brought
slightly greater jazz sensibility to the music. Peng's soloing was less
prominent, playing more the role of conductor and imbuing the music with Duke
Ellingtonian grace. Greater use of Chinese percussion added punch and Oriental
spice to the arrangements, but otherwise the band's second CD was an
outstanding continuation and refinement of what had come before.
With
Spin, Sizhukong again draws from traditional Taiwanese/Chinese folk
traditions and jazz. Peng's compositions, as ever, are informed by nature, folk
tales/poetry and history's contours. However, the band steps outside its
comfort zone in a several important ways. Electronic keyboards and electric
guitar debut and are to the fore, bringing a jazz-fusion/jazz-rock hue to
several compositions and there's perhaps more jazz-inspired improvisation than
on the band's previous albums. Vanbuel's acoustic bass has been replaced by
Fujii's electric bass, and the drum kit (on which Fujii doubles) is a more
dynamic presence than before. Sizhukong may have begun as a fusion of musical
traditions, but on Spin it's also increasingly about a fusion of
contrasting textural elements.