World Unity Jazz Ensemble

The almost human vocal quality of the Chinese violin called the "erhu" (ahr-hoo) exudes a hauntingly beautiful sound rarely heard within a jazz context. The emphasis of this music is on the melody of each song, performed in such a way that the beauty of every note is captured and savored.Combine this traditional Chinese instrument with the Duke Ellington classic melody "Prelude To A Kiss" over a jazz rhythm section. then sprinkle it with Latin percussion. voila! .a true representation of international harmony!Jiebing Chen, who is featured playing the erhu, is considered to be one of the world's greatest performers on that instrument. A graduate of The Shanghai Conservatory, Ms. Chen is no stranger to jazz. She was an integral part of The Beijing Trio which featured legendary jazz drummer, Max Roach, and has recorded and performed with the world famous banjo artist, Bela Fleck.The co-founders of WUJE (woo-jay), Phil Morrison and Keith Williams have for over ten years performed in and written music related to Asia, primarily China and Japan. Their "China Skies" CD represents the unique writing and arranging skills necessary to capture the flavor of Asia. It was recorded in China, Japan, and the USA. In this new project, it is particularly noteworthy that three of the originals are assumed to be traditional melodies from China but they are actually melodies written by Phil or Keith.Keith Williams, a graduate of the renowned Berklee College of Music, is the musical director and orchestrator of the music, while Phil Morrison is the primary organizer and composer of much of their original material.Given the current climate of worldwide discord that affects us all, we offer this unique musical presentation as an example of "international harmony" which most of us long for. Jazz has always been a unifying force and WUJE would like to carry on this tradition as exemplified by the great Dizzy Gillespie. Both Phil and Keith performed with Dizzy Gillespie and were deeply moved by his love and concern for humanity. Diz would take his band around the world incorporating in that band peoples and rhythms from many nations and cultures. The spirit of Diz lives. and with our music, we hope to keep it alive.