Jon Jang and Francis Wong: San Francisco

Jon Jang and Francis Wong Photos courtesy Shuman Associates

Composer/musicians Jon Jang and Francis Wong, both deeply-rooted in the Asian-American communities of the San Francisco Bay area, will jointly work in partnership with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Asian Improv aRts, and Melody of China to employ music to create a cultural bridge to bring together the many different members of the community-immigrant and American-born, Asian and non-Asian. This residency will reflect their philosophy, which draws from diverse heritages and seeks to increase audiences, performances, and educational opportunities, as well as increase interaction and dialogue, especially among young people and immigrant populations. New works to be created during the residency include an extended music work called Oaktown Chinatown by Jon Jang, which will serve as a musical diary of his collaborative work with Francis Wong, Melody of China, and other musicians and ensembles with whom he has worked. Francis Wong will compose three installments of his composition cycle La Chine Africaine, which looks at Chinese-Americans and African-Americans in the context of social upheaval and will be reflective of the multicultural character of the East Bay of the 60s and 70s. The composers will also develop a community arts participation model for the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, which will include a range of activities for composers outside the concert hall, such as technique classes, workshops, and educational symposia. The residency will also initiate a new annual Oaktown Chinatown Music Festival, the first formal festival of Pan Asian, multi-genre music in the Bay Area.

Jon Jang was born in Los Angeles and raised in Palo Alto. He began piano lessons at the late age of 19, and after just two years of study was accepted at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music on a Lydia Lord Davis scholarship, where he studied piano and composition and received a B.Mus degree in piano performance. He has also studied internationally with residencies in Soweto, South Africa, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mr. Jang has received numerous commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Library of Congress, Kronos Quartet, Chanticleer, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, among others. When Sorrow Turns to Joy—Songlines: The Spiritual Tributary of Paul Robeson and Mei Lanfang commissioned by Cal Performances and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis from Mr. Jang and James Newton, will have its world premiere in June at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley. Jon Jang's ensembles have toured China, South Africa, Europe, Canada, and the United States, and he has worked with such distinguished artists as Max Roach, Maxine Hong Kingston, David Murray, and Zhang Yan on over 10 recordings on Soul Note and Asian Improv Records. Mr. Jang is the recipient of numerous ASCAP awards, and was recognized by JAZZIZ as one of the 150 artists who have changed jazz since 1983.

Francis Wong was born and raised in San Francisco. He studied violin from age nine and began to study saxophone at age 14 in the school band. He first began collaborating with Jon Jang in 1982 and participated in Mr. Jang's first recording, Are You Chinese or Charlie Chan? After completing his undergraduate work in Economics at Stanford University, he attended music classes at San Jose State University. Mr. Wong's first recorded composition, Prayer for Melvin Truss, was included on Jon Jang's long-playing record, The Ballad or the Bullet, released by Asian Improv Records. His first CD as a leader, Great Wall, was released by Asian Improv Records in 1993. Mr. Wong has been creating jazz and new music works since 1985. He has written songs, extended suites, and scores for theater, dance, radio documentaries, and performance art in varied instrumentations from small jazz ensembles and new music chamber ensembles, to mixed media. Mr. Wong is well known for marrying music and narratives from the Asian- American, African-American, and Euro-American traditions. For the past 12 years, Mr. Wong has been executive producer and artistic director of Asian Improv aRts, which presents cultural performances in collaboration with the San Francisco Bay Area Asian- American community. As a member of the World of Tales and the San Francisco Symphony's Adventures in Music Program, Mr. Wong has performed before more than 50,000 elementary school students throughout Northern California.