
The Present and the Past
[[Release Detail]][[Release Description]]“Invent yourself and then reinvent yourself. Change your tone and shape so often that they can never categorize you.” Charles Bukowski’s poem, No Leaders, Please, is the driving ethos behind saxophonist Jason Gay. Never not still, Gay relentlessly explores the depths and exhausts every possibility of each musical rabbit hole he dives down. Born in Washington D.C. and landing in Hawaii during his service in U.S. Navy band, Gay leapt into the world of Chinese folk songs and its mainstay instruments, including the er-hu, pipa and guzheng. In the mid-2010s, Gay spent four years transcribing, imitating, assimilating, and innovating these sounds. Emerging along his journey was a cast of musicians who eagerly helped Gay interpret compositions like “Jasmine Flower” or “Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon” into an often transcendental state of jazz. The group, known as the Hidden Dragon Quartet, was comprised of Gay, drummer Noel Okimoto, pianist Grant Ca