Most arrangers of jazz for large ensembles can readily fall back into the fundamentals of either (or both) classical or big band jazz music. But Jihye Lee, raised in South Korea, had little education or training in either genre. Her journey to become an acclaimed arranger for large jazz ensembles took an unusual path. The latest result of that journey is her new album Infinite Connections, featuring an 18-piece group performing music that mixes traditional Korean rhythms and jazz harmonies.
Unlike the usual stereotype of young Koreans, Lee was not raised with classical music. Most of her musical experience involved singing—everything from cartoon music to rock. “I didn't grow up with classical or jazz music, which is a little bit strange that I am doing lots of those now,” she says. She entered music school in Korea as a voice major, but she found that she had a desire to create written music, yet had neither the mentors nor the path to follow. In the hope of finding something that she wanted to pursue, she decided to apply to Berklee School of Music, perhaps to become a singer-songwriter or film composer. But she found the language barrier to be a problem with the former and the complicated software ruling out the latter.
It was the sound of a big band coming from a classroom at Berklee that moved her to find her path. “I was like, ‘What is that?’” she recalls. “I went in and there was a jazz orchestra playing some of the classics. I was like, ‘What is this lush sound?” I immediately fell in love with that lush and thick sound. If you hear a big band live, you can't help falling in love with that because the sound is just crazy. I loved all the 13 people blowing their horns. It was so human for some reason.”
The student big band she heard was led by Buddy Rich alumnus and Berklee professor Greg Hopkins, who would become an important teacher and mentor for Lee, as she immersed herself in the world of jazz. She admits now that it was both intimidating and inspiring. “I didn't know about jazz that much before,” she explains. “I had lots of things to catch up. I remember one time I was in the classroom and one of my classmates said he literally memorized all the Oscar Peterson solos because it was his grandmother's music. I was like, ‘Wow, that's, that's a huge difference.’ I never heard any jazz big bands in Korea.”
A dogged learner, Lee got a crash course in jazz composition and arranging while at Berklee. But she also realized that she had a different perspective as a native Korean. “Because I grew up listening to other music, my inspiration is different than other composers,” she says. “So maybe I can bring something different to the scene. I don't think I heard lots of Korean influence in jazz. So I thought ‘Maybe I'm the one who should do this.’” Lee would go on to win the first prize in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop’s annual concert and competition with her composition “Unshakeable Mind,” which she recorded on her first album, Daring Mind, produced by fellow large ensemble arranger and leader Darcy James Argue.
Lee’s latest album, Infinite Connections, does indeed bring something different from, say, the Maria Schneider Orchestra or the Mingus Big Band, in the least because her music incorporates the distinctive rhythms of Korean drumming. “All of my interest in Korean traditional music began in 2018, with the curiosity of bringing my own roots to the music,” she explains. “Korean rhythm is very intricate and complex, which can satisfy lots of jazz musicians. I loved having all the organic rhythmic groove and odd meters.”
Lee did a lot of research about traditional Korean music, traveling back there multiple times to learn from traditional percussionists. And she thought about how those rhythms could be combined with elements of the jazz orchestra. “Korean music doesn't really have a lot of melody or harmony,” she says. “It’s just pentatonic with microtonal. I was thinking, ‘What should I do with 13 horns?’ That was a quite challenging musical experiment for me to have answer.” That answer also involved the spiritual aspects of the music. “I had an image of all my ancestors getting together near the big tree, playing lots of drums and praying, crying out for their lives. I had a desire to create an ancient ritual and primal sound, because If you go to ancient times, the music really relates to their spirituality, philosophy and everything. I thought Korean drumming would serve this storyline that I have on Infinite Connections.”
The album is about more than driving rhythms. Lee was inspired by the life of her halmeoni (Korean for grandmother), who was born in 1935 and lived through the Japanese occupation through WWII and the Korean War, that killed millions of Koreans and uprooted families in both the North and South, as well as created economic hardship and political turmoil. “When writing this music, I was thinking about my grandmother's life. She was just a innocent young girl who was born not knowing what will happen to her. And she happened to become an orphan and her upbringing was very brutal by her relatives. She lived through the Japanese occupation and the war and poverty. Yet she also saw the creation of a modern Korea with Samsung, KPop and all the technological and economic changes.” In 2020 her grandmother, beset by dementia, died suddenly after wandering off alone in a field. “Her death wasn’t comfortable,” Lee says. “It devastated my mom and me and the whole family.” Adding to the tragic circumstances, her mother had a stroke soon after.
Her grandmother’s life is just one part of the album’s theme. “The album is not only about my grandmother, but is also about a search of my true identity, like ‘Who am I?’ Maybe the most fundamental identity is as a daughter to my mother and my mother is a daughter her mother. And if I keep on going, we have all mothers. I'm so Korean, with my ancestral ties and my womanhood. It really hit me deeply.”
Lee was not alone in realizing this vision. To bring the uniquely powerful sound of Korean (and Japanese) drumming, she enlisted the talents of Japanese percussionist Keita Ogawa who gelled in a unique way with the jazz rhythm section of Matt Clohesy on bas and Jared Schonig on drums. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire appears as a special guest on two tracks. She also had the support of her friend and mentor Argue, who co-produced Infinite Connections. Lee says that he was invaluable while she was busy conducting the 18-piece orchestra in the studio. “You need someone in the booth,” she explains. “Otherwise, I wouldn't do any job, because you have to be steady with your beat and conducting the band. You can't really hear what the good take was or what segment you should do again. Darcy has enormous ears and he cares so much about this art form of the jazz orchestra.”
Argue further explains his role: “My job as producer begins with coming up with the recording schedule, figuring out the optimal use of our very limited studio time. Then, during the session, I’m on the other side of the glass in the control room, taking detailed notes — what went right, what went wrong — so I can quickly communicate that to Jihye and the band after each take. I’m also watching the clock to make sure we stay on track, and that we get everything we need by the end of the session.”
Argue says he admires Lee’s unique gifts as a composer and arranger. “I think Jihye’s great strength is that she is not afraid to take chances,” he explains. “There’s nothing stock about her writing. She asks a lot of her musicians — some of it verging on the impossible — but she has such a clear vision for how she wants the music to sound, which makes the band want to rise to the occasion.”
Because of the economic challenges of presenting this music with its requisite 18 pieces, Lee is looking for ways to strip down the production for live performances. However, she will lead the entire ensemble in a performance at the Sheen Center in NYC on August 23. Learn more here.
When asked what her grandmother thought of her accomplishments as a musician, Lee says that she doesn’t think her halmeoni was so concerned with the success. “I think she was just happy that I'm alive. I'm living my life doing what I like to do.”
Listen to our conversation, above.
