Cuong Vu

Trumpeter Cuong Vu has gained increasing recognition as a great young talent through his live appearances and session work with some of today's top avant-garde jazz musicians, his membership in the Pat Metheny Group, and his leadership of a jazztronica trio also featuring bassist Stomu Takeishi along with some of the most exciting drummers on the cutting-edge jazz scene. Born into a musical family in Vietnam (his mother was a Vietnamese pop singer and his father was a multi-instrumentalist), Vu and his mother moved to the U.S. and settled in Seattle, WA, when he was six years old. He became enamored with the saxophone, one of his father's instruments, and finally asked his mother for a trumpet when he was 11. Vu was later awarded a scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied under Joe Maneri, who had a big influence on Vu. While studying in Boston, he was also positively affected by local improvised music act the Fringe.

After graduating with a B.A. in jazz studies, Vu moved to New York and settled into the city's so-called downtown scene during the 1990s, performing with the likes of Dave Douglas, Bobby Previte, Chris Speed, Andy Laster, Jamie Saft, and Gerry Hemingway. Vu was also a member of drummer George Schuller's Orange Then Blue big band and Jeff Song's Lowbrow. In addition to these projects, Vu led his own groups, including Scratcher and Vu-Tet. March 2000 brought the release of his album Bound (featuring percussionist Jim Black, keyboardist Saft, and bassist Takeishi) on the Brooklyn-based OmniTone label. The same fall, Pure was released on the Knitting Factory label; the CD featured the trio of Vu, Takeishi, and drummer John Hollenbeck. A year later, the trio released a second Knitting Factory CD, Come Play with Me.

One might have expected the subsequent demise of the Knitting Factory label to diminish Vu's profile somewhat, but instead the trumpeter found himself performing and recording for his largest audience yet after being tapped by jazz star Pat Metheny to join the guitarist's band. Vu toured extensively with the Pat Metheny Group and appeared on Metheny's CDs Speaking of Now (a 2002 Grammy winner for Best Contemporary Jazz Album) and Way Up (2005). During the early 2000s Vu also joined pianist Myra Melford's quintet The Tent. In 2005 Vu released It's Mostly Residual, his fourth CD as a leader, on the Japanese Intoxicate label. The CD again featured Vu and Takeishi, this time with a new drummer, Ted Poor, who propelled the band forward in the spirit of Vu's previous exemplary percussionists Black and Hollenbeck. And none other than Bill Frisell is featured as a guest star throughout the CD, proving that Pat Metheny is not the only high-profile jazz guitarist who finds musical common ground with one of the most innovative trumpeters on the modern creative jazz scene. [It's Mostly Residual can be purchased directly through Cuong Vu's website at www.cuongvu.com.]

from Wikipedia:

Cuong Vu (surname Vu; b. Saigon, South Vietnam, September 19, 1969) is a jazz trumpeter and vocalist.

Born in Saigon, he left Vietnam with his family at the age of five in 1975, settling in Bellevue, Washington (an Eastside suburb of Seattle). He quickly learned English, adapted to his new country and culture and began to play the trumpet at the age of 11, after receiving the instrument as a gift from his mother.

After graduating from Bellevue High School, he was awarded a full scholarship to attend the New England Conservatory of Music, receiving a B.M. degree in jazz studies. While there, he studied with Joe Maneri, George Garzone, John McNeil, Tim Morrison and Dave Holland. Visionary reedman/composer Maneri encouraged Vu to examine the unexplored sonic possibilities of the trumpet. During this time, while rediscovering the jazz legends such as Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and Lee Morgan, Vu developed a deep love for the music of classical composers ranging from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, to Arnold Schoenberg, Witold Lutosławski, and György Ligeti, along with jazz avant gardists such as Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane (post A Love Supreme) and Albert Ayler.

Immediately after graduating NEC with honors, Vu moved to New York City, and quickly established himself as one of the most innovative and versatile young trumpeters in the jazz scene with his first co-led group, Ragged Jack (with Jamie Saft, Andrew D'Angelo and Jim Black) and his sideman work with many of the "Downtown Creative Music" artists whose music scene revolved around clubs such as the Knitting Factory and Tonic. Although often labeled as an avant-garde player, he does not limit himself to this type of playing, preferring to use influences from many forms of contemporary jazz, as well as rock, electronica, groove and ambient musics.

Vu has worked with visionaries including Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Gerry Hemingway, and Mitchell Froom. He has recorded and toured with Pat Metheny as trumpeter and vocalist.

Cuong has also led various groups, most notably his CV Trio with bassist Stomu Takeishi and drummer Ted Poor, and Vu-Tet (featuring Chris Speed). His recordings display elements from seemingly disparate musical styles, yet blur the boundaries of these genres while showcasing his innovative approach to sound, texture and group improvisation.

Although Vu is shy about considering himself a bona fide composer due to his immense respect and reverence for his heroes in classical composition, Cuong has nonetheless developed his own unique compositional style that concisely sets his bands' improvisational approach and intimately draws from each of the members of his bands. Jazz critics internationally have hailed his writing as brimming with ingenuity and originality.

In 2003 and again in 2006 Cuong received Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, for his work on the Pat Metheny Group's 2002 album Speaking of Now and 2005 album "The Way Up".

Cuong currently resides in Seattle where he’s recognized by the transformation he's brought to the University of Washington’s Jazz Program and its impact on a local group of young, boundary pushing musicians who have formed a burgeoning scene revolving around The Racer Sessions and it's extension, Table and Chairs Records.