Linda May Han Oh - Aventurine (2019)

Personnel:
Linda May Han Oh – acoustic/electric bass
Greg Ward – alto/soprano saxophone
Fung Chern Hwei - violin
Sarah Caswell - violin
Bennie Von Gutzeit - viola
Jeremy Harman - cello
Matt Mitchell - piano
Chess Smith - drums/vibraphone

Aventurine is a translucent mineral, a type of quartz with a shimmering effect, or “adventurescence”. It is most commonly found in the color green. It has been known to symbolize creativity, opportunity and evolution.

Each one of these compositions are dear to me, connected to integral moments of my life and powerful memories that I keep close at hand.

While a handful of these compositions were started and completed within the last few years, the lifetime some of these pieces span ten to thirteen years. Over the years the music has evolved with each performance and the arrangements have been constantly development and refined, to a point where I consider them living, breathing entities that have finally matured into a state where they are comfortable in their own skin.

The first incarnation of this repertoire began at Manhattan School of Music where I first began studying orchestration and composition seriously. I later took advantage of the Institute of Audio Research student program which enabled me to record rough demos with their student engineers in order to further workshop the music.

Some of this music was written and refined during my 2012 Jazz Gallery Commission and since then I have been adding more to the repertoire. The music has expanded and evolved into what it is now. -Linda May Han Oh