Malaysian-Born Linda Pulling Strings Big Time

BY NEVILLE D'CRUZ MELBOURNE, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- A young Malaysian-born musician who has turned the jazz world on its ear is eager to bring her music home. Now based in New York, Linda Oh had hoped to take part in this year’s Penang Music Festival but her demanding schedule got in the way. The 27-year-old composer and double bass player, described by one reviewer as “the future of jazz”, managed to fit in a quick visit to Malaysia earlier this year. She told Bernama here on Friday that her desire to perform in Malaysia, especially in Penang where her father comes from, was only strengthened by the wonderful time she had catching up with friends and relatives. "I hope to perform in Malaysia, but it has to be at a festival or some event that’s big because of the distance needed to travel," Linda said. Born in Petaling Jaya to Oh Teik Kwan and Leow Kim Lan, Linda and the Oh family, including two sisters who are also musicians and doctors in Australia, moved to Perth, Western Australia when she was aged three and started learning classical piano at the age of four. She progressed to clarinet at 11 and bassoon at 13 before an uncle gave her an electric bass, and she hasn’t looked back. During the day, she would play in the high school band and community big bands in Perth; at night she would cover songs by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. In 2002, Linda was accepted into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where she began playing the upright double bass that has become her trademark. While at the academy, she received first-class honours for her thesis on bass improvisation, which included an exploration of the rhythmic aspects of North Indian classical music. In 2005 she was named the academy’s best graduation recitalist. The next year she moved to New York to complete her Masters at the Manhattan School of Music. It was there that she formed the Linda Oh Trio with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and drummer Obed Calvaire, who has played with such jazz luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Wynton Marsalis. Their debut album, Entry, was released in 2009. Village Voice, New York’s highly influential music and arts newspaper, rated Entry one of the best albums of that year. Noted New York musician and writer Vijay Iyer named it in his Top 10. The critics were effusive in their praise for Linda Oh’s musicianship. “She knows more about tension and release than most bassists twice her age,” said The Washington Post while the New York Times said Linda’s “self-generated energy fuels go-for-broke improvisation”. Her follow-up album, Moving Pieces, was released this year and followed scores for the Student Academy Award-nominated film Wianbu, about the mistreatment of Korean comfort women in World War II, and Plan C, a documentary about the effects of environmental geo-engineering. She is currently working on another documentary score, this one for An Australian Citizen’s Diary, about a Rwandan refugee living in Perth, and on a concept piece called Concert in the Dark, where the musicians perform with very minimal lighting to enhance the audience’s listening experience. It is only a matter of time before Malaysian audiences are given the chance to see this young jazz superstar perform. When that happens they will realise what an extraordinary gift they have given the world. -- BERNAMA Malaysia