This release by Ah-Q Jazz Arkestra is a joint Chinese-American project. The back story is rather interesting. From the Bandcamp website:
In early 2020, we found ourselves separated and stuck at home. Even though four of us were in Beijing, COVID19 control measures prevented us from meeting face to face. And David was much further away (in Israel, then New York and eventually Oklahoma) and unable to return to Beijing.Like much of the world, we resorted to frequent video chats and text messages to stay in touch, but as time went on, we felt we needed a better way of expressing the musical collaboration and kinship at the heart of the Ah-Q Jazz Arkestra. And for that we needed to get creative.
That’s how, after a few false starts and trials, we launched the Letters from Afar project, an exchange of musical “letters” that captured, in a somewhat different time and space, the playful back-and-forth of jazz improvisation.
This “correspondence” took place over a three-month period, from August to October 2020, lifting our spirits throughout these difficult times with the powerful language of jazz improvisation.
We hope you’ll find our musical musings to be as uplifting as we did.
Credits
released December 31, 2020David Moser 莫大伟 – keyboards (recorded in Oklahoma)
Liu Xiaoguang 刘晓光 – tenor saxophone
Matt Roberts 饶猛志 – trombone
Da Zhong 大中 – bass
Scott Silverman 司马恺 – drums
