Ma Jie

Location:
Los Angeles, California, US
Type:
Artist / Band / Musician
Genre:
Experimental / Jazz / Classical
Site(s):
BACKGROUND
From a long line of traditional Chinese musicians, Jie Ma (Chinese characters: 马捷) began studying music and playing the pipa at age 5 in Lanzhou in Gansu province in China. Jie's mother is a professional musician and traditional Chinese musical instrument instructor who teaches pipa among other things. Jie is studied in the music of Gansu. Jie became a professional musician at age 14. Jie received her Bachelor of Music degree from one of China's top music schools, the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, in 2001. Jie also studied in China under celebrated pipa masters Wang Fandi, Liu Dehai, and Kuang Yuzhong, and ruan master Jilian Liu. Jie was also an assistant professor in the music department at Liao Ning Normal University, and she has taught pipa to a wide range of students in China and the United States.
After moving to the United States, in 2004, Jie began exploring the possibilities of blending traditional pipa technique with Western and other sounds. In addition to working with classical and traditional musicians and composers, Jie has worked extensively with jazz and rock musicians on experimental and improvisational projects. Jie enjoys playing traditional Chinese arrangements, creating her own works, and fusing Chinese and other styles to create a unique sound that is all hers. Jie is a noted player of fusion music[1], jazz fusion[2], improvisation[3] [4], and experimental music.[5] In pursuit of her passion for music and the pipa, Jie has performed in China, Japan, and throughout the United States, as a soloist, as a duet member, in ensembles, and as a featured performer.
In 2009, Jie was referred in the leading U.K. newspaper, the Guardian, as one of the "notable" pipa players in the West.[6]



PLAYING AND PERFORMANCE
In the San Francisco Bay area, where she lives, Jie frequently collaborates with avant-garde musicians such as Philip Gelb on shakuhachi, jazz musicians such as Jeffrey Chin[7] on piano, jazz fusion musician Gary Schwantes[8] on saxophone and Chinese bamboo flute, and cellist and sound artist Hugh Livingston[9]. In her continuing effort to push the boundaries of the pipa in many different contexts, Jie has played with a wide variety of musicians from a number of different genres, including jazz, country, blues, rock, fusion, and world music. Having been a professional musician since a young age, Jie is a consummate live performer, comfortable in front of a crowd, and her performance history is longstanding, broad, varied, nationwide and international. Jie is unafraid of taking chances with her music and her instrument and has performed in a wide array of formats, in a wide variety of venues from traditional to galleries to clubs, as demonstrated by the following:
•July 2010, performed with Freddy Clarke and his WobblyWorld as featured performer at Yoshi's in San Francisco, CA (fusion music).
•May 2010, performed with Freddy Clarke and his WobblyWorld as featured performer at Razz Room in San Francisco, CA (fusion music).
•March 2010, performed with Freddy Clarke and his WobblyWorld as featured performer at Razz Room in San Francisco, CA (world music/duet/band).
•June 2009, performed at Summer Solstice Music Festival, Oakland, CA, with Kyle Bruckmann, Chris Brown, Phil Gelb, Shoko Hikage, and Tim Perkis (improvisation).
•April 2009, performed at Ivy Room in Albany, CA, with Michael Zbyszynski, Bruce Bennett, Bill Langton, and Byron Diel (experimental/improvisation).
•March 2009, performed at Temescal Arts Center in Oakland, CA, with Philip Gelb (Shakuhachi) and Tim Perkis (computer) (improvisation).
•November 2008, with Jumping Buddha, performed at De Young Museum in San Francisco, CA (Chinese traditional).
•March 2008, with Philip Gelb (shakuhachi), performed duet concert at the Meridian Gallery in San Francisco, CA (the music was selected in the Gallery's first album: Ten Years of Meridian Music: Composers in Performance) (improvisation).
•May 2008, performed at Cafe Claude in San Francisco, CA, with Ultra World X-Tet (jazz/fusion).
•April 2008, performed Zhou Long's "Farewell for Pipa, Erhu, and Ensemble" with the Seattle Chamber Players at Town Hall, Seattle, WA (classical with Western chamber music).
•April 2008, performed at Cafe Claude in San Francisco, CA, with Ultra World X-Tet (jazz/fusion).
•February 2008, performed at Cafe Claude in San Francisco, CA, with Ultra World X-Tet (jazz/fusion).
•February 2008, performed at Center for the Arts at Eagle Rock in Los Angeles, CA, with Philip Gelb, Alex Cline, Vinnie Golia, and Jane Rigler (improvisation).
•November 2007, performed at Cafe Claude in San Francisco, CA, with Ultra World X-Tet (jazz/fusion).
•November 2007, with Jumping Buddha, performed at De Young Museum in San Francisco, CA (Chinese traditional).
•October 2007, performed at Counter Pulse in San Francisco, CA, with Benjamin Jarrett (dance) and Philip Gelb (shakuhachi) (improvisation).
•June 2007, Summer Solstice Music Festival 2007: Garden of Memory 2007, with Philip Gelb, in Oakland, CA (improvisation).
•March 2007, performed at Pan-Asian Musical Festival, with Stanford Orchestra, at Stanford University, in Stanford, CA (classical with Western orchestra music).
•October 2006, Asian American Music Showcase, Monkey King Records, performed with Chinese American hardcore band, Say Bok Gwai, in San Francisco, CA (hardcore rock).
•October 2006, performed with San Francisco Girls Chorus in its season premiere themed "Magic Strings", in San Francisco, CA (classical with chorus).
•March 2006, performed in avant-garde project entitled "Sound for Picture", at Old First Church, in San Francisco, CA, with San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, in which the sound of pipa narrated the history of San Francisco through the eyes of early Chinese experiences during the Gold Rush (classical with Western orchestra music).
•February 2006, performed in New York Winter Jazz Festival, in duet with percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, in New York, NY (free jazz/improvisation).
•March 2005, performed at Pan-Asian Musical Festival with Stanford Orchestra, at Stanford University, in Stanford, CA (Chinese quartet).
•February 2005, performed with Citywinds Quintet and Melody of China, at Old First Church, in San Francisco CA, in concert combining modern chamber music with Chinese traditional ensemble (classical with Western chamber music).
•2004 to present, working with Melody of China, performed in different venues around San Francisco, CA, such as the Herbst Theater and Asian Art Museum: A Musical Dialogue with Dancing Lions, San Francisco, CA, May 2004; "Songs from Mongolia" concert, San Francisco, CA, June 2005; and A Musical Dialogue with Dancing Lions, San Francisco, CA, May 2004 (Chinese traditional/fusion).
•2002, performed in several cities in Japan as featured performer (traditional).
Recordings of Jie's music can be found on several CDs. She is one of the few main musicians on the CD "Silk Road" by Vincent Flores [10], and she appears on the CD "Ten Years of Meridian Music: Composers in Performance" [11]. Her recordings can also be accessed on her online sites listed below. Jie is a member of ASCAP.
From 2004 to 2005, Jie hosted a regular radio program introducing Chinese music at the Sing Tao Radio Station in San Francisco.



FIND OUT MORE
Jie maintains her website at http://www.musicpipa.com, where a sample of her performances and compositions, and a gallery of photos and videos, can be accessed. She can be followed on Twitter at sfpipa, and she can be found at http://www.myspace.com/pipajie.



Jie welcomes the opportunity to work with other talented musicians to create new sounds.
Check out my website at http://www.majiepipa.com for more information!
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