Helen Sung

Lauded pianist Helen Sung is an adroit improviser with a bent toward straight-ahead jazz and post-bop. Arriving in New York in the early 2000s, she grew to wider fame as the winner of the 2007 Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition. Along with albums by Joe Chambers, Ronnie Cuber, and Terri Lyne Carrington, Sung has released her own highly regarded efforts including the 2006 trio date Helenistique, 2010's Going Express, and 2014's Anthem for a New Day, the latter of which featured longtime associates saxophonist Seamus Blake and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. She has also collaborated on projects like 2018's Sung with Words with poet Dana Gioia and 2021's Quartet+ with the string ensemble Harlem Quartet.