Fluent in a variety of musical languages, Jeffrey Song [he/him] has been active in jazz, rock, funk, folk, and experimental music for over 30 years. Primarily a bass guitarist, cellist and singer, he has also performed and recorded on guitar, piano, oud, and kayagum.
Jeff received his BA in Anthropology from Boston University, and his MM from the New England Conservatory of Music. Inspired by his peers and teachers like Ran Blake and Joe Maneri, he began to explore improvisation and composition through the music of various non-western cultures, and the works of daring classical, jazz and rock iconoclasts.
Alone and with collaborators, Jeff has worked to develop a musical language that is not readily labeled or defined. The New England Foundation for the Arts recognized the importance of this challenge and awarded him an Artists’ Projects: New Forms Grant to support his work. The improvisations and compositions on his recordings -- In Vivo (Asian Improv Records), Love & Fear (O.O.Discs), Invisible Maniac (Asian Improv Records), Rules of Engagement (Asian Improv Records), The Other Pocket (Music & Arts), Diasporama (Stellar Sound), and Trio Ex Nihilo (Buzz/Challenge) -- endeavored to expand the range of musical expression, allowing new sounds and compositional/improvisational techniques to create a richer aural spectrum.
Jeff has performed solo, with his own groups (Lowbrow, Trio Ex Nihilo, The Blooming, JEF), and with various artists including Taylor Ho Bynum, Ute Lemper, Cuong Vu, Dave Bryant, Jason Kao Hwang, George E. Lewis, Matt Turner, Leroy Jenkins, Neil Leonard, Bill Lowe, Olivia Block, David Tronzo, Bob Moses, Bruno Fontaine, David Doms, Michael Zerang, Tom Hall, Jane Miller, Joe Daley, Miya Masaoka, Curt Newton, Tatsuya Nakatani, Charlie Kohlhase, Dean Laabs, Ken Field, Francis Wong, and Leni Stern. He continues to play sideman to rockers, folkies and singer/songwriters, and has laid down the low end for several artists including Sarah Levecque, Adam Sherman, Kevin So, Andy Santospago, Greg Klyma, Lauren Passarelli, Sarah Burrill, Drazy Hoops, Vicki Genfan, and the band Miriam. Jeff has performed at various festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival (2000), the San Francisco Asian American Jazz Festival (1995), the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival (1996, 1999, 2001), the Istanbul Jazz Festival (2000), the Boston CyberArts Festival (2007), the Palermo Festival Di Verdura (2000), the Knitting Factory’s What is Jazz? Festival (1996), the Texaco New York Jazz Festival (1997), the Boston Autumn Uprising (1998, 2002), the CSPS New Music Festival (1999), and the Boston Asian American Jazz Festival (1997, 1998, 2000). His recorded music has been featured on radio, television, theater, and in an exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
Audio samples
Trio Ex Nihilo: Song, Newton & Bynum (Jeff Song on cello)
Miriam: Scenic Two-Lane (Jeff Song on cello)
Kevin So: Individual
Jeff Song - fretless bass guitar on Better Man Than Me
Leni Stern @ Berklee Performance Center
Jeff Song - fretless bass guitar on All Or Nothing with Lauren Passarelli
Dean Laabs & Jeff Song: Invisible Maniac
Jeff Song - bass guitar; composer of “One way”, Matt Turner composed “Scanner”
Jeff Song & Lowbrow
Jeff Song on bass guitar, electric cello on Cyan, acoustic cello on Monday School
Jeff Song & Curt Newton
Jeff Song on kayagum; Curt Newton on chang-go
Jeff Song & Piece de Resistance
Set the WABAC Machine to 1985. Jeff Song on bass guitar.
Selected Concerts
Electric Counterpoint (S. Reich), American Guitar Feast (conducted by David Leisner), Boston, MA, 3/28/90
Ryonji (J. Cage), John Cage Festival (conducted by Steve Drury, dir.; John Cage, artistic advisor), Boston, MA, 3/4/91
Invisible Maniac, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum New Music Series, Boston, MA, 10/12/91
Invisible Maniac, Knott Music Festival: Jazz at The Rat, Boston, MA, 5/12/93
Jeff Song & John Mettam, O.O. Discs’ 2nd Anniversary Concert, The Knitting Factory, NY, NY, 10/5/93
Phantom Arts Ensemble, Iconoclasts & Innovators (w/Salim Washington), CMAC, Cambridge, MA, 4/28/95
Jason Kao Hwang & the Far East Side Band, Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 5/25/95
Thousand Cranes Ensemble (w/ George E. Lewis), 14th Asian American Jazz Festival, San Francisco, CA, 5/29/95
Leni Stern, Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA, 3/28/96
Jeff Song & Lowbrow, The Knitting Factory, New York, NY, 5/2/96
Dadadah, What is Jazz? Festival, The Knitting Factory, New York, NY, 6/24/96
The Philip Gelb, Steve Norton, Jeff Song Trio, The Knitting Factory, New York, NY, 7/8/96
Jeff Song/Matt Turner Duo, 1st Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, Chicago, IL, 11/1/96
Kevin So, Club Passim, Cambridge, MA, 4/24/97
Debris, Texaco New York Jazz Festival, Knitting Factory, New York, NY, 6/18/97
Jane Miller Group, 1st Annual Ryles Jazz Festival, Cambridge, MA, 9/3/97
Jeff Song & Lowbrow, 1st Boston Asian American Creative Music Festival, Cambridge, MA, 9/27/97
Jeff Song’s Trio Lowbrow, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 4/30/98
Francis Wong/Jeff Song Duo, 2nd Boston Asian American Creative Music Festival, Cambridge, MA, 10/9/98
Jeff Song & Lowbrow, Autumn Uprising Festival, Jamaica Plain, MA, 10/17/98
Jeff Song & Lowbrow, On Stage at the Art Center, Des Moines, IA, 4/16/99
Jeff Song & Lowbrow, CSPS New Music Festival, Cedar Rapids, IA, 4/17/99
Jeff Song & Michael Zerang Duo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, 11/21/99
Ute Lemper Band, Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland, 7/11/00
Ute Lemper Band, Festival Di Verdura, Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Italy, 7/12/00
Ute Lemper Band, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, 7/14/00
Ute Lemper Band, Vichy Opera House, Vichy, France, 7/18/00
Ute Lemper Band, Estoril, Portugal, 7/21/00
Ute Lemper Band, Povoa de Varzim, Portugal, 7/22/00
Trio Ex Nihilo w/Jason Kao Hwang, Boston Asian American Jazz Festival 2000, ICA, Boston, MA, 9/16/00
Miya Masaoka & Friends, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 9/30/00
The Jeff Song/ Kesaya Noda Duo, CreAsian Festival, Boston Center for the Arts, 5/10/01
Trio Ex Nihilo, CreAsian Festival, Boston Center for the Arts, 6/2/01
Trio Ex Nihilo, Memorial for Gillian Levine, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 9/22/01
Trio Ex Nihilo, Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, The Hothouse, Chicago, IL, 10/26/01
Tom Hall’s Session1 (with David Tronzo), A.S. 220, Providence, RI, 3/2/02
Trio Ex Nihilo, On Stage at the Art Center, Des Moines, IA, 4/6/02
Trio Ex Nihilo, Autumn Uprising, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 10/06/02
Leroy Jenkins: Music in Memory of Gillian Levine, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 6/6/03
Taylor Ho Bynum’s SpiderMonkey Strings, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 9/16/03
Jeff Song & Curt Newton, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, 10/16/04, 10/17/04 (residency)
Jeff Song & Curt Newton, List Art Center, M.I.T., Cambridge, MA, 3/18/05
Jeff Song & Curt Newton, Susan Hockfield Inaugeration (“Uncommon Block Party”), M.I.T., Cambridge, MA, 5/7/05
Olivia Block, premier of Rime and Glaze, Boston Cyberarts Festival, Boston, MA, 4/29/07
The Blooming, SOS MusicFest 2007, Somerville, MA, 5/6/07