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Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks : Imagination
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This avant garde duo pays homage to Joe Raposo, the influential yet under-appreciated artist, using his compositions as starting points for a series of experiments in texture, form and improvisation.
Genre: Avant Garde: Structured Improvisation
Release Date: 2008
Imagination Record Label: Yeah Yeah Records
  • Buy CD - $15.00
Preview Song Name Time Format Price Select
Somebody Come And Play 5:02 Album Only
Little Things 8:25 Album Only
Song Of Five 1:19 Album Only
Bein’ Green 5:49 Album Only
La, La, La 4:24 Album Only
Happiness Hotel 5:30 Album Only
Imagination 5:18 Album Only
What Makes Music 1:00 Album Only
Blue 4:51 Album Only
J Jump 3:39 Album Only
Not Much Of A Dog 2:22 Album Only
Sing 5:38 Album Only
preview all songs

Album Notes

Musicians
Yoon Sun Choi, voice
Jacob Sacks, piano

Description

The Yoon Sun Choi/Jacob Sacks Duo’s second recording,
Imagination, is an innovative tribute to the music of prolific theater,
film and television composer, Joe Raposo (1937-1989). Nearly
30 years after first hearing his seminal music on such classic children’s
programs as The Electric Company, The Muppet Show and
Sesame Street, this longstanding jazz duo uses such timeless and
instantly familiar songs as “Bein’ Green” and “Sing” as launching
pads for experiments in texture, form and improvisation.

“Joe Raposo is one of those rare artists whose work has nearly universal
appeal,” explains the group in the liner notes. “His music
expresses sadness, happiness, nostalgia and wonder, and presents
them with humor and humanity. His unique blend of depth
and playfulness has touched our hearts since we were kids, and
playing and interpreting his music has been a joy that has put us
more in touch with what it really means to ‘sing.’ We would like
to thank the The Joe Raposo Music Group, Nick Raposo, and Joe
Raposo, Jr. for their amazing support and generosity.”

“Choi and Sacks are not the typical duo,” declared AllAboutJazz-
New York’s Andrey Henkin after a live performance of this music
at Manhattan’s intimate 5C Café. “Choi effortlessly mixes traditional
jazz vocals with a sultrier approach or the gymnastics of the
avant garde. Sacks never plays the straight man, abstracting the
melodies enough to keep each turn interesting.”

About Yoon Sun Choi
Ms. Choi, a native of Toronto, is a performer, composer and
educator who has lived and worked in New York since 2000. Since
that time she has worked with such internationally renowned
musicians as Cameron Brown, Steve Coleman, Mark Dresser, Joe
Maneri and Kenny Werner. A classically trained pianist turned
vocalist, her eclectic resume also includes projects ranging from
jazz opera to improvised music theater to microtonal vocal music.
In addition to her eight year-old duo with Sacks, she currently
leads/co-leads 4inObjects, The E-String Band, The Restless Spirits
and The Joe Raposo Project.

About Jacob Sacks
A 1999 Thelonious Monk Competition finalist and former
Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Sacks is a pianist who has
performed with Terumasa Hino, the Mingus Big Band, Tony
Malaby, Ben Monder, Angelica Sanchez and Matt Wilson among
many others. His most recent release is 2007’s Two Miles A Day
(Yeah Yeah Records/Loyal Label), featuring Mat Maneri, Paul
Motian and Eivind Opsvik.


Additional Information

+ Imagination is the follow-up to the duo’s 2002
debut, Soulmates (YY0001), a collection of
all original compositions that led Cadence
reviewer David Dupont to write, “Vocalist
Yoon Sun Choi and musical partner Jacob
Sacks have fashioned a haunting set that
evokes—without imitating—the work of
Jeanne Lee with Ran Blake. The songs are
neatly perched between American noir and art
song.”

+ Choi and Sacks have been playing Raposo’s
music in earnest since late 2003, including
performances at clubs all around their home
base of New York City and Ms. Choi’s home
province of Ontario, Canada. Although
both had experience with the Raposo’s
work as children, it was Sacks interest in
Tony Bennett’s version of “Little Things”
that spurred the duo to rediscover his
compositions as professional musicians.

+ “I contacted the Raposo estate asking for
more music that hadn’t been recorded as
much and we just started experimenting with
the songs,” Ms. Choi explains. “In the end, we
decided to record these 12 pieces. He wrote
beautiful melodies with inspiring lyrics, even
the alphabet songs. He was so optimistic and
idealistic. It was a wonderful adventure to
work with his music.”

+ Raposo gained international fame for his
enduring music for children’s television and
movies, especially his work with longtime
collaborator Jim Henson, but his career
extended into several other areas. A former
student of the legendary Nadia Boulanger,
he was also an established pianist, arranger,
music director and composer of sitcom
themes for TV shows such as Three’s
Company.

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REVIEWS

This is an amazing project!
author: Jeff Chumley
Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks represent a completely different approach to music than we typically hear in mainstream jazz performances, on television, in the movies, at the Grammies, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I like Dianna Krall. I like Jane Monheit. I like others in the current crop of jazz/American popular song divas but make no mistake, they are the beautiful clothes on this beautiful body of music. Yoon and Jacob are the body. There is no separate layer of interpretation in their performance. No self-conscious decision making or obvious imposition of craft interferes with ones enjoyment of their music. Theirs is an equal musical partnership. Don’t look here for a singer and an accompanist. Jacob’s piano is clearly an equal partner in this duo. They step through the dance together, around each other, on each other. They finish each other’s sentences, they shout each other down, they laugh at each other’s jokes. One gets the feeling that they grew up together if not in life then at least in music and that they both instinctively know when the piano is the thing and when the voice needs to shine. How rare and refreshing is that? Notes played, sounds made, words sung because they clearly must be. Yoon puts herself out there more than any singer I know. She is not afraid to be silly. Listen to “Not much of a Dog.” She can be forthright and straight up as in “J Jump”. Soulful, “Bein’ Green.” Her approach seems to be to stand up and let the music come out of her with only her own personal, natural filter to color the performance. As they say on Facebook: “Jeff likes this.” And what of Jacob Sacks. His notes range from atoms to atom bombs and as with Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. His piano seems to be larger than mine. More filled with color and hue. I love the pointillism in his style. The way each note and chord speaks its piece and each phrase says more than the sum of its parts. I understand he plays in and around NYC. If I were closer, I’d go give a listen for sure. The songs on this album have a great deal of meaning to most anyone who has had kids in the last forty years or so. They are mostly songs that I remember from Sesame Street. It would be easy to dismiss them because of this but they are great songs. They have earned their place in the lexicon of “World Popular Song”. It is nice to hear them treated as great songs instead of kid’s songs. If you know them you will love this album. If you don’t know them, you should.
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