Reviews of Boundless Groove
The piece is beautifully organic and has a lot of integrity. I like the sound that the drummer is getting. It’s hard to assimilate world sounds, indigenous traditions if you will, with jazz but I think it works well in your piece. Also the different kinds of jazz harmony your using also assimilate well, in a linear sense, how one harmonic world follows another, which is a different kind of assimilation I suppose. It has a nice breadth to it, it breaths, and is formally paced well. Also the concept of freedom verses composed elements works well, As well as dissonant /textural verses, modal, verses functionally tonal, groove vs. free rhythm. I think what freedom really means is the freedom to use all these things. I think this is a major accomplishment and a really fine piece of work.
Matt Kiroff
Composer
Adjunct Faculty, Cleveland Institute of Arts
I like it very much! An excellent orchestration. The performers connected well with your music and brought some good energy. The contrasting sections are very effective.
Stan Smith
Jazz guitarist and composer
Jazz Faculty, Capital University
Dr. Lai’s recent Chinese Jazz fusion composition Boundless Groove demonstrates how two distinct musical styles can be smoothly integrated to create a true cross-cultural harmony. She has done outstanding work in her integration of the many diverse musical elements from traditional Chinese music and jazz. Through the breaking down of stylistic barriers, a new universal musical language for the 21st century can be created. This can then be further developed and adopted by younger generations who wish to pursue cultural exchange through music.
Richard Sussman
Jazz pianist and composer
Professor, Manhattan School of Music
I have heard, taught and assessed many compositions that explore cross-cultural fusions, and this is easily among the most successful I have ever heard.
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J. Lawrence Witzleben
Ethnomusicologist
Professor, University of Maryland
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Dr. Lai’s successes as a composer are evident in her composition “Boundless Groove”. What is so important to state is First and foremost, the most obvious integration of Chinese music and jazz is the wonderful mixture of instrumentation. The use of jazz ensemble with the Chinese plucked-string ensemble: Pipa, Zhongruan, Daruan, and Guzheng is masterful, allowing each group to work together in different capacities. This wonderful combination is obvious from the first few moments when they begin to perform together. This rare and insightful combination has important significance on its own, and additionally as inspiration for future composers. From a harmonic perspective, her use of the Pentatonic scale and its different modes as apparent from her JEN presentation is clearly a huge part of the composition. The Pentatonic scale’s importance in Asian music is critical, but also maintains a significant scale in the jazz idiom. It’s important to note here the important choice of the twelve-bar form that is present in many parts of the composition. This 12-bar form is of particular importance to jazz, as the 12-bar blues is the bedrock on which much of jazz music is based on.
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Drew Zaremba
Jazz Composer
Assistant Professor
University of Northern Colorado