When I say artist, I mean everything I create—music, isual art, curating, and environment that hold these practices.

I am a blender, and a sampler.  

I see myself as a practitioner/a student, and a vessel. I did not create anything—everything existed long before me; piano, rhythm, tonality, songs, harmony, cadence, melody, style,  everything. 

Filtering and mixing what I have received as inspiration. I let them come down through me, and my work is to maintain openness, and keep the filter as clean so I can receiver. What comes out is the purest form of creative energy - often come out of anger, frustration, guilt, sadness, anxiety and all the trauma and emotions that haunts me over the years. Art and music grounds me when I can not.  It's my core, and also my nurturer. 

Process

The labor happens long before the showcase: vulnerability, openness, shaping, questioning, refining, discussion, listening, thinking, feeling, triying, failure, trying again and again - What the audience sees is the very final moment, of years of process that occupies nearly all of the work. 

This is why, my work includes, showcasing of 'process', that is not a rehearsal nor show. It's the inbetween, exciting part when we try things after when we have the basic understanding of the music we are trying to play. 

Jazz - #BAM 

I approach jazz as a traditional Black American Music rooted in lineage and collective awareness. In that angle, I support how Nicholas Payton Despite its profound influence on global popular music, it remains deeply under-understood. 

'Jazz' is not only about exciting concert and black  but a way of living that is largely powered by Black church music. Through jazz, I am studying not only music, but etiquette and manner—how to listen, how to respond, how to support others, and how to carry oneself within society as a jazz musician. From this foundation, innovation becomes possible. You could say I am a purist, but what I am talking about is, how to appreciate authenticity, and how to help this music to keep living with people who nurture it. 

The Jazz I experience, invites each individual to create their own episode: to stand confidently in their voice, and free ourselves from whatever the constrain we are in, while respecting tradition and precedents. 

BEING AUTHENTIC

As an improviser and visual artist, I allow myself maximum freedom. It is still a work in progress, but both practices express what I can not express with words. I am fully aware of my constrains. 

In a world increasingly divided by noise and hatred, my work of creating happily is an act of resistance - a peace-building, and a suggestion to feel more, dig deeper, and express as close to the way I want as possible. If we artists can make more people welcome to experiment and express, I think that is a great work. 

Let's make our musical fantasy come alive.