“A storyteller like no other” — Fiona Ross, Jazz in Europe

For your Grammy® consideration!

Best Alternative Jazz Album

Press

“Words cannot describe the beauty of this album!” — Jazz Fun

“stunning” — Women in Jazz Media

“presenting a clear vision and message” — Jazz in Europe

“striking sonorities.” — Jazzwise

“fresh, communicative” — Musica Jazz

“A delicious shower of sounds and ideas…a powerful and impassioned set.” — Outsideleft Music ★★★★★

“inventive and far-ranging, venturing into unusual territory” — Expose

“beautiful, reverent of nature’s wonders […] highly recommended!” — Midwest Book Review

“an album LOADED with suggestions and surprises.” — Rockerilla

“Annie Chen bridges musical continents” — Jazz Weekly

“open-minded, forward-moving” — The Miscellany News

“cutting-edge” — Ivan Rod

“Annie Chen is a musician who constantly surprises and educates” — Morning Star

About

A signature trait of Annie Chen’s music is its integration of experimental aesthetics with a strong sense of imagery and narrative. In her original compositions as well as her interpretations of the music of others, Annie’s approach straddles the line between abstract and programmatic music, aided by unconventional song structures, unique instrumentation, and a highly collaborative band concept. These properties are on full display in the music presented in the newly composed Guardians suite, which provides the record’s thematic center. Preceding the suite are two new arrangements of older compositions by Annie and two interpretations of pieces by 20th-century Polish composers, all of which are drawn into the musical orbit of Guardians to form a cohesive and evocative body of work. Through this unique set of music, Annie and her band question the relationship between humans and nature and its consequences: crisis, loss, and the possibility of hope.