Skip to main content

Taiwanese musician Vincent Hsu performs at New Orleans Jazz Museum's International Jazz Day program

  • Date:2021-04-30
Taiwanese musician Vincent Hsu performs at New Orleans Jazz Museum's International Jazz Day program

Taiwanese jazz artist Vincent Hsu (徐崇育) and Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band (古巴爵士樂團) was featured in the New Orleans Jazz Museum's day-long virtual event in celebration of this year’s International Jazz Day on April 30.

The performance was the premiere for Vincent Hsu's composition "African Princess," which was inspired by Duke Ellington’s piece "La Plus Belle Africaine" composed for the World Festival of Negro Arts in Africa in 1966.

Born in Changhua, Taiwan, Vincent Hsu is an award-winning bassist and composer whose music style can be identified as a cross between jazz and Afro-Cuban music. Hsu formed "Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band" in 2010 with an aim to fuse jazz and Afro-Cuban music with his Taiwanese roots, so as to lead the audience in experiencing the unpredictability of jazz improvisation through Afro-Cuban rhythms.

Vincent Hsu’s latest album "In Our Blood," which aims at conveying his passion towards Afro-Cuban music and its tradition through musicians and stories from Taiwan, won Best Jazz Single with Vincent’s composition "Dreamer’s Blues" at the 2018 Golden Indie Music Awards. He was awarded a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement at the 2019 Global Music Awards.

Vincent has performed at various jazz venues across New York in addition to being one of the founders of the traditional Cuban band – Sarah Y Su Cachito – which regularly performs authentic Cuban and Latin jazz in New York since 2006.

International Jazz Day is the largest celebration of jazz in the world for its role in fostering peace, intercultural dialogue and international collaboration. Legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, whom the New Orleans Jazz Museum appointed as an Honorary Improvisations Gala Co-Chair in 2019, co-led the celebration. The New Orleans Jazz Museum held a day-long virtual event on April 30, featuring international performers from Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, and France.