by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
For vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, the path to jazz wasn’t direct. She rode a contemporary classical percussion track into her twenties in her native Taiwan, but, as it turned out, that drive was less about reaching a destination than it was about the act of discovery: A growing desire for musical freedom and adventure eventually set Chien Chien on a different course, steering her toward jazz and a life in New York. Now, after making herself comfortable in the jazz mecca and turning plenty of heads in the employ of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, she forges her own direction on this arresting debut. Read full album review here.