FLOW(2024)-OA2 Record -NEW RELEASE-
Now almost 15 years into her New York City life, South Korean pianist and composer Jihee Heo has thrived during her deep journey into the city's towering jazz piano legacy. Her studies in Amsterdam and at the Manhattan School of Music blended experimental jazz with classical and bop, but the rich connection she discovered with drummer Joe Farnsworth and bassist Alex Claffy several years ago awakened sounds she's had stored away since she first encountered jazz. Now a steady presence in New York's clubs, this trio's journey is documented on Flow, which was, appropriately enough, recorded by Maureen Sickler at Rudy Van Gelder's famed studio in Englewood, NJ. Joining the trio for two tunes is the alto titan, Vincent Herring.
"Pianist Jihee Heo has a beautiful legato touch that builds on sturdy lyricism and lustrous harmonies but her work also is filled with delicate, detailed figures."DownBeat
Are You Ready(2020)-OA2 Record
Raised in South Korea, pianist-composer Jihee Heo studied in Amsterdam before receiving her master degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2013. Now with a decade ensconced in New York's music scene, Jihee found inspiration for producing this album of alternately pastoral and grooving trio music through Robert Henry's classic treatise for artists, "Art Spirit." Reciting passages in the opening track, "Are You Ready?," the sense of offering a vision into her musical process and deep involvement with 'the moment' informs the 8 artfully melodic original compositions. Along with the wide-ranging talents of drummer Rodney Green, who also co-produces, and bassist Marty Kenney, rapper Saidu Ezike voices Jihee's ambivalence toward her New York experience on "Trust," followed by what could be considered a love note to the city on the instrumental "Oh, New York." -OA2 Records
1. Are You Ready? 3:28 5. Streams in the Desert 5:19
2. Blurring the Blues 5:26 6. Trust 3:36
3. Dancing in the Sorrow 3:39 7. Oh, New York 5:17
4. Dark and Light 4:31 8. Letter to a Little Girl 3:34
Passion(2015)-Independent
Passion is a thematic album based on Luke chapters 19:28-24:53. Every song is connected and driven by one story from start to finish. The themes of the album are presented through different configurations of a nonet, consisting of trumpet (Philip Dizack), trombone (Frank Cohen), tenor saxophone (Jure Pukl), alto saxophone (Pat Carroll), piano, bass (Daniel Stein), drums (Charles Burchell), and vocals (Patricia Wichmann). The compositions are complex, yet emotionally driven, featuring unique and unusual voicings and a strong rhythmic style that I feel will connect with people regardless of religious beliefs or affiliations.
Also Appears On
Ilya Dynov “Bridge” (2023)
Cross Cultrue “Fake News”(2020)
Miss So and So “A Night of Obssesion” (2019)
Jayne Wilcox “Mixology” (2013)
Christopher Klassen “Arirang”(2007)
Hyunsun Park “Naive” (2009)