The Sage by Jacob Chung

Going to saxophone shops is a necessary evil of being a saxophonist. I don’t like doing it, or to be more specific I don’t like doing it when there are other saxophone players there. Going to a saxophone shop in New York City promises to be an adventure, especially when it’s one of the more popular ones like JL Woodwinds. The few times I have been in there, there have always been a plethora of horn players playing as fast and as loud as they can. In addition they’re usually playing some completely complicated pattern. It is as if they’re saying “look at me, look at how incredible I am.” I find it off putting to say the least. On one particular day a few years ago I made my way up to the second floor of JL Woodwinds and as I walked in I heard this incredible sound coming from a tenor saxophone. It struck me immediately. The horn was being put through its paces, he was playing loudly and was playing fast but there was something just a little bit different. The sound he was getting hit me in a bit of a different way. We struck up a conversation and upon introducing myself this young gentleman indicated that he knew who I was and told me we had many mutual friends and he respected what I was doing with Cellar Music. Jacob Chung is, as they say, wise beyond his years. He came across as such a humble, kind and generous soul in our quick conversation. I was thrilled to find out he was from Toronto.

A few months after returning to Vancouver I reached out to Jacob and we started the conversation about recording. Emails went back and forth, some time passed and we hadn’t made any concrete plans to do anything but were staying in touch. A few months after that I got a random message from alto saxophonist Vincent Herring. For many years Herring has been having sessions at his house where he invites students over to jam and work through tunes etc. He told me about this saxophonist that he thought I would be very excited about. His exact words were “this kid is special and wise beyond his years!” He was talking about Jacob Chung. I mentioned to Vincent what a crazy coincidence that was and that Jacob and I had met and had been talking. I asked Vincent if he would be interested in producing the date. He agreed and things started to move quickly.

The conversation started with me asking who he’d like to have on the session. He mentioned a couple of younger musicians who I didn’t know at the time but have since met and then he said ‘I’d really like to have Vincent play on a few tunes and if I had my dream drummer it would be Joe Farnsworth’. These names were music to my ears. Filled out with some of Jacob’s contemporaries in bassist Caleb Tobocman and pianist Tyler Henderson the quintet headed to GBs Juke Joint in Long Island City and laid down what I think is an absolutely phenomenal album. Vincent Herring and Joe Farnsworth are the perfect guys to mentor these young musicians. They both play with so much fire and enthusiasm and in listening to these tracks you can hear the musicians being pushed and loving EVERY second of it.

In the hands of some of these youngsters like Chung, Tobacman and Henderson it is safe to say that jazz is in very capable hands. I cannot wait to hear what the future holds for these young lions.

Enjoy!

Cory Weeds
Vancouver, BC
May 2024

Jacob Chung moved to NYC in 2022 to study with Vincent Herring, whose advocacy for Jacob’s talent led to the recording of
Jacob’s sophomore album The Sage for the Cellar Live label, featuring both Herring
and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Jacob also connected with the likes of Grant Stewart, whose mentorship has since guided Jacob into maintaining an active performance schedule in NYC
clubs.

jacobchungmusic.com