Jihye Lee
is a Korean-born, Brooklyn-based composer, arranger, and conductor Jihye Lee possesses a highly personal, entertaining, and idiosyncratic knack for musical storytelling. Since 2017, she has released three orchestral albums, making significant waves in the jazz and classical music scenes of New York and beyond.
Lee’s innate musical talent has guided her on a unique and deeply personal compositional journey. She has an extraordinary ability to immerse herself completely in her artistry, while never losing sight of the intricate details and dynamics for successful large-ensemble jazz presentations. Unafraid of vulnerability, Lee’s compositions resonate from the raw truths in her life.
Infinite Connections, her third orchestral album, came out on May 31, 2024 and was immediately selected as DownBeat Editor’s ‘Pick of the Month’ for June 2024. An emotionally arresting song-cycle of nine diverse compositions for an 18-piece orchestra, Infinite Connections, stands as a powerful testament to Lee’s uncommon artistry. Delving into her cultural legacy, Lee chose rhythms from traditional Korean folk music as the inspirational backbone of each composition. Undeterred by the challenges of melding Western music with indigenous Korean folk rhythms, Lee manages to confront a powerful host of major life issues with her dramatic yet richly nuanced and precise music. Grief, the cycle of nature, ancestral ties, the struggles of womanhood in patriarchal Korea, and the eternal yearning of the soul for freedom from earthly tethers, all these serve as conceptual seeds that take root and bloom through this exciting work of musical art.
Lee's sophomore album album, Daring Mind (Motema, 2021), was inspired by Lee’s struggles and triumphs as an immigrant artist living in New York City, The New York Times remarked that "[she] has her own style” and Le Monde noted that “[her] music is a miracle of luxuriance and freshness.” It was also selected as one of 10 best jazz albums of 2021 by The Guardian. April, her debut album which she release independently in 2017, was a response to the Sewol Ferry Disaster in South Korea in 2014. All About Jazz called that album “thought-provoking and gut-wrenching all at once."
Lee's innovative approach to composing has been hailed as ‘imaginative and creative’ by her longtime mentor Jim McNeely, whom she studied under while earning her Master’s at the Manhattan School of Music. Her co-producer Darcy James Argue describes her work as 'incredibly distinctive and full of surprises.' Infinite Connections (2024), provides striking affirmation of her importance as one of the most compelling composer/producer/arranger/conductor conceptualists in contemporary jazz and classical music.
Her work has garnered numerous accolades including sought-after commissions, honors, awards, and residencies, including the NYU/CBA National Sawdust Toulmin Fellowship, BMI Foundation's Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, the ASCAP Foundation/Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize, and the Korean Music Award for Best Jazz Album of 2021. Her work has also graced prestigious stages like Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall's NYO Jazz, and the National Theatre of Korea, the Brazil C6 Festival, the Frankfurt hr-Big Band and more, all solidifying her reputation as a remarkable new trailblazer.
quotes
“Superb from start to finish” – Le Monde
“A composer of authority and depth…” – The Arts Desk
“a stand-out for large ensemble works of recent years,” – Rondo Magazine, 5 Star
“A sparkling synthesis, Jihye Lee’s music affirms the ever-lively relevance of jazz, a universal, emancipatory language, a space of expression for all specificities, traditions and stories.”- Télérama
“…stirs the soul, inspires the listeners to ponder deep thoughts and makes for an ultimately beautiful listening experience. Jihye Lee is a composer who will capture your ears, attention and imagination, today and well into the future.” – DownBeat Magazine (Editor’s Pick)
“deeply impressive” – Nate Chinen, The Gig, Take 5
“A Profound cross-cultural meditation on life” – Jazziz
“She has her own style. Her crisp arrangements balance frenetic virtuosity…” New York Times
“Bursting with ingenious ideas …” JazzWise (Editor’s Pick)
“An Idiosyncratic, Personal & Intrepid Storyteller” GRAMMY. Com
“The music is a lush garden.” Stereo Gum
… Turning heads around the globe.” JazzTimes
“She inspires enthusiasm with an inventive writing, teeming with surprises.” Le Monde