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Min Xiao-Fen Blue Pipa Trio Apr. 12

Story posted April 09, 2008

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Min Xiao-Fen. Photo: Helmut Lackringer.

The Min Xiao-Fen Blue Pipa Trio will perform at Bowdoin College at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, 2008, in Studzinski Recital Hall, Kanbar Auditorium. The concert is open to the public and admission is free.

Chinese pipa player, singer and composer Min Xiao-Fen, a world-recognized virtuoso and pioneer in both orchestral and underground projects, is known for her fluid style. The Blue Pipa Trio plays Min Xiao-Fen's compositions and arrangements of Chinese folk music, American Jazz standards and bluegrass. The Trio features the masterful bass work of Dean Johnson and the sensitive playing of guitarist Steve Salerno.

Min Xiao-Fen has been a pipa soloist with the famed Nanjing Traditional Music Orchestra of China for more than ten years. She also won the Jiangsu national pipa competition and eventually became a first-class artist in China. After Min came to the United States in 1992, she worked with composers John Zorn, Philip Glass, Wadada Leo Smith, Randy Weston, Tan Dun and many others. In 2003, she was invited by Jazz at Lincoln Center to play a solo set of the music of Thelonious Monk and was also invited to play with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

In 2004, she premiered "Ping Pong," composer Anthony De Ritis' pipa concerto, with the Taipei Chinese Music Orchestra. Her piece "The Loneliest Monk" was commissioned and performed by House Blend at The Kitchen in New York City. 2006 highlights included appearances with her Blue Pipa Trio at the JVC Jazz Festival and recorded for Björk's new album.

Guitarist and composer Steve Salerno is an active performer of both jazz and classical music. He is a member of the Ray Anderson Quartet and the Paul Smoker 4-Tet and leads a variety of groups, including his jazz trio, Exiles. Among his latest recordings are Paul Smoker's "Mirabile Dictu," Ray Anderson's "Bone Meal" and Dave Lobenstein's "Triple Play." His classical group, The Constellation Trio (with Linda Wetherill, flute and Terry Keevil, oboe) is the recipient of the NYSCA Decentralization Grant (2003) and the New York Cultural Affairs Grant (2003).

Since arriving in New York, in 1980, Dean Johnson has been busy freelancing with a wide variety of artists, and has had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, and Israel. He has also appeared on more than 50 recordings with a variety of artists. Gerry Mulligan is Johnson's most prominent association. He spent 10 years with Mulligan in a variety of musical situations including the Quartet, Nonet, Big Band, and Orchestra.

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