Album guide
Sungbird
- Composer
- Albéniz
- Released
- 2007
- Label
- Sunnyside Communications
- Forces
- Piano, Saxophone
- Personnel
- Helen Sung piano, Marcus Strickland tenor and soprano saxophone, Reuben Rogers bass, Nasheet Waits drums, Samuel Torres percussion
Sung found the structure she needed in Albéniz’s six concise piano pieces, then paired them with jazz compositions rather than disguising all twelve as arrangements.
She deliberately left the Serenata itself unadapted; her own “Sungbird” became its counterpart, making the album a conversation between her classical training and the jazz language she adopted later.
Hear both
The album alternates the classical original with the jazz reading, so both play in the single player below and there is no separate classical side.
The player above carries the complete album in track order, the straight performances and the jazz readings alike.
Spotify’s player is here for convenience; the full track listing below remains available to everyone.
Source works
The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.
- PreludeEspaña, Op. 165 No. 1, Preludio
- TangoEspaña, Op. 165 No. 2, Tango
- PreableOriginal composition by Helen Sung
- Shall We Tango?Original composition by Helen Sung
- Malaguena MiniaturaOriginal composition by Helen Sung
- MalguenaEspaña, Op. 165 No. 3, Malagueña
- SerenataEspaña, Op. 165 No. 4, Serenata
- SunbirdOriginal composition by Helen Sung
- Capricho CatalanEspaña, Op. 165 No. 5, Capricho Catalan
- Capricho AmericanOriginal composition by Helen Sung
- Free FusionOriginal composition by Helen Sung
- Encore : ZortzichoEspaña, Op. 165 No. 6, Zortzico