WORKS

Min Xiao-Fen | White Lotus

PERFORMERS

Min Xiao-Fen, pipa
Rez Abbasi, guitar

Few artists have done more to both honor and reinvent the 2000-year history of the pipa than soloist, vocalist and composer Min Xiao-Fen. Classically trained in her native China, Min was an in-demand interpreter of traditional music before relocating to the United States and forging a new path for her instrument alongside many of the leading lights in modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental and contemporary classical music. NPR Weekend Edition lauded Ms. Min as “one of the world’s greatest virtuosos” and JazzTimes hailed her as “a pioneer in integrating her ancient instrument with modern jazz and improvised music.” The New York Times raved that her singular work “has traversed a sweeping musical odyssey.”

Min’s acclaimed new album, White Lotus (2021), is her original score to the 1934 silent film The Goddess, long thought lost but recently rediscovered and restored. Min’s eclectic score pairs her with acclaimed guitarist Rez Abbasi, who brings together influences from modern jazz, progressive rock and South Asian music. On From Harlem to Shanghai and Back, Min’s Blue Pipa Trio commingles trumpeter Buck Clayton’s Kansas City swing with the music of Li Jinhui, the “Father of Chinese popular music.” Min’s 2012 album Dim Sum spotlights the stunning scope of her original compositions, while her 2017 release Mao, Monk and Me is a deeply personal exploration of the music of Thelonious Monk combined with Chinese folk tunes and children’s songs remembered from her childhood in Nanjing. Min’s projects have been performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York Guitar Festival, ELLNORA Guitar Festival, 100 Years of Monk at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shanghai Jazz Festival, Glatt & Verkehrt Festival in Krems and many others. Min was a curator at The Stone and the Museum of Chinese in America in New York. She also served as artist-in-residence with the Sound of Dragon Society for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and was a guiding artist for the Creative Music Studio and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

Min has received a new commission from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art to compose soundtracks for two Chinese silent films from the 1920s, scheduled to premiere on May 6, 2023. www.minbluepipa.com

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Born in Karachi, Pakistan, removed at the age of four to the vastness of Southern California, schooled at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and classical music, along with a pilgrimage in India under the guidance of master percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Rez Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated influences and genres. Making New York home for the past 25 years, Abbasi is considered by many to be one of the foremost modern jazz guitar players the world over. He has honed his skills with performances throughout Europe, Canada, the U.S., Mexico and India and has performed and recorded with many jazz greats including, Grammy winner Ruth Brown, Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Barre Phillips, Tim Berne, Michael Formanek, Billy Hart, Gary Thomas, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mike Clark, Tim Hagans, John Beasly, Ronu Majumdar, Kadri Gopalnath, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Vijay Iyer, Marilyn Crispell, Greg Osby, Howard Levy and a host of others.

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