Jacob Chung - The Sage (2024) [Hi-Res]

A few months after returning to Vancouver I reached out to Jacob and we started the conversation about recording. Emails went back and forth, some time passed and we hadn’t made any concrete plans to do anything but were staying in touch. A few months after that I got a random message from alto saxophonist Vincent Herring. For many years Herring has been having sessions at his house where he invites students over to jam and work through tunes etc. He told me about this saxophonist that he thought I would be very excited about. His exact words were “this kid is special and wise beyond his years!” He was talking about Jacob Chung. I mentioned to Vincent what a crazy coincidence that was and that Jacob and I had met and had been talking. I asked Vincent if he would be interested in producing the date. He agreed and things started to move quickly.

The conversation started with me asking who he’d like to have on the session. He mentioned a couple of younger musicians who I didn’t know at the time but have since met and then he said ‘I’d really like to have Vincent play on a few tunes and if I had my dream drummer it would be Joe Farnsworth’. These names were music to my ears. Filled out with some of Jacob’s contemporaries in bassist Caleb Tobocman and pianist Tyler Henderson the quintet headed to GBs Juke Joint in Long Island City and laid down what I think is an absolutely phenomenal album. Vincent Herring and Joe Farnsworth are the perfect guys to mentor these young musicians. They both play with so much fire and enthusiasm and in listening to these tracks you can hear the musicians being pushed and loving EVERY second of it.

In the hands of some of these youngsters like Chung, Tobacman and Henderson it is safe to say that jazz is in very capable hands. I cannot wait to hear what the future holds for these young lions.

Enjoy!

Jacob Chung - tenor saxophone
Vincent Herring - alto saxophone
Tyler Henderson on piano
Caleb Tobocman on bass.
Joe Farnsworth - drums