Bio

“New blues chanteuse” – Camalo Gaskin (Costume Designer) “She sings like a phoenix in spring.” – Swati Ross (Dancer/choreographer) “Pyeng’s voice opens new worlds within each listener” – Ruomi Lee Hampel (Film Director) Before she was able to write, Pyeng would ask her mother to transcribe lyrics as she composed tunes on her miniature keyboard. Pulling from the influences of her father, composer and musician Henry Threadgill, and her mother, choreographer, dancer and founding member of The Urban Bush Women Christina Jones, Pyeng manages to retain a firm grounding in jazz and folk traditions of the past while seamlessly infusing her own perspective. In high school in New York City, Pyeng was the lead singer and lyricist for funk/soul band SoulSauce, of which she was a founding member. At Oberlin College she maintained her passion by writing, scoring, directing and performing in the enthusiastically reviewed play, “Fi Nan Bois: Girl In The Woods.” After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Oberlin, Pyeng furthered her musical training back in Manhattan at the Institute of Audio Research. Since 2000, Pyeng has been developing her jazz-duo (and sometimes trio, soon to be quartet). Performing with cellist Dana Leong and various other instrumentalists, they explore an eclectic repertoire ranging from Bessie Smith and Nat King Cole to Ornette Coleman and Sarah Vaughn. Pyeng unites her influences of jazz, soul, rhythm ‘n’ blues, rock and the avant-garde in a unique blend, subtly infusing the standards of the greats with just the right amount of modern flair. With her band Pyeng has premiered at New York City venues such as The Kitchen, Cooper Union, Venus Arts Garden, D’Zora House, Nublu, Torch, Les Deux Gamins, Via Della Pace, Black Betty’s, The Knitting Factory and the Anyway Café, where she has a regular bi-weekly show. In addition, Pyeng has served as a musical consultant for jazz poet Hattie Gossett and performs with Ms. Gossett’s acclaimed Poetry Jazz Band and continues furthering her musical development with the likes of New York musical luminaries Treva Offutt and William Parker at venues such as Downtime, Joe’s Pub, Aaron Davis Hall, and Dixon Place. In June of 2003 Pyeng toured to California to participate in an art clothing installation put on by costume designer Camalo Gaskin and live videographer Chris Andrews. For the occasion Pyeng composed a 20-minute Jazz suite inspired by the life cycle of caterpillars. This spring of 2003, Pyeng was commissioned to produce, arrange and record an album of covers of the legendary “King of The Blues” Robert Johnson. The record drops in spring of 2004. The summer of 2003 marks Pyeng’s first record appearance on “Modern Sleeping”, the album of Jacob Bronstein, courtesy of CrystalTop Music. Pyeng now lives in Berkeley, California where she regularly performs at clubs in the Bay Area. In New York she performs at the Jazz Standard and will perform at in July at the 2005 Cognac Blues Passion Festival in Cognac, France.