Composer, leader and violinist Jason Kao Hwang leads his 7 member Burning Bridge ensemble through 47 minutes and 51 seconds of continuous music, with the “track” separations put in simply for “convenience.” What could have been a major traffic jam comes out as surprisingly cogent and articulate, with a mix of unison themes and intuitive ensemble passages.
The band of Joseph Daley/tuba, Andrew Drury/dr-perc, Ken Filiano/b, Steve Swell/tb, Sun Li/pipa, Taylor Ho Bynum/ct-fh and Wang Guowei/erhu take turns in the lead, with rumbling drumming teaming with deep tuba work on “Breath Within the Bomb” segueing into some herky jerky rock beats and Asian lyricism with violin and Oriental stringed erhu on “Surge, Part 1.” Dreamy clouds hover with string and trombone on “Surge, Part 2” with some swaying up and down a slope for “Evolution.” The closing “Declarations” mixes intuitive work by Bynum with fragrant percussion guidance. Thinly veiled cohesion.