Jason Kao Hwang

Jason Kao Hwang (born 1957 in Waukegan, Illinois) is a Chinese American violinist and composer.
A versatile performer, Hwang focuses primarily on jazz and improvised musics, and has a particular interest in cross-cultural projects. He has been associated with the Asian American jazz movement and has performed (on violin, electric violin, and electronics) with Anthony Braxton, David Murray, Pauline Oliveros and the Deep Listening Band, Butch Morris, William Parker, Fred Hopkins, Milford Graves, Billy Bang, Ushio Torikai, Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Diedre Murray, Leroy Jenkins, and Makanda Ken McIntyre.
Hwang is a founding member of The Far East Side Band, an intercultural ensemble combining Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and American musical elements. He has composed the scores for numerous films and has also worked in the field of commercial music. He was in the original cast of the Broadway production of M. Butterfly, performing music he co-arranged for that production; he later toured with the national productions as a music director.
Hwang has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, the Greenwall Foundation, the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust for his opera Immigrant of the Womb.
His chamber opera The Floating Box: A Story in Chinatown premiered in 2001.
Mr. Hwang has recorded for the Axiom, Celluloid, Columbia, Enja, FMP, New World, Victo, and Asian Improv labels.

With Dominic Duval

• Cries and Whispers (Cadence Jazz, 1999 [2001])

With William Parker

• Sunrise in the Tone World (AUM Fidelity, 1995 [1997])

With Henry Threadgill

• Too Much Sugar for a Dime (Axiom, 1993)
• Carry the Day (Columbia, 1995)