ALAN CHAN • BIOGRAPHY |
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"The four movements of Moon Walk…are full of small and large wonders." |
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![]() Photo credit: Dana Ross |
Composer and pianist Alan Chan recently received the 2023 OPERA America’s IDEA Grant, to develop his new opera Immortal Labia, in collaboration with New York City-based librettist Victoria Moy. He was the winner of the first ASCAP George Duke Commissioning Prize in 2015. His imaginative composition “Denali World” was premiered by the 67-piece Symphonic Jazz Orchestra in 2017. He is also a winner of the ArtEZ International Jazz Composition Contest (the Netherlands, 2011), Percussive Arts Society Composition Contests (2004, 2008), together with awards and fellowships from Konstnärsnämnden (Sweden), the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Ucross Foundation, among others. For more than a decade, he has been focused on creating unique music for his 17-piece Alan Chan Jazz Orchestra (ACJO), which is comprised of top studio/jazz musicians in Los Angeles. Their debut "Shrimp Tale" album was released in 2014, which received rave reviews and radio plays across the U.S. ACJO appears in Los Angeles venues such as the Baked Potato, Vibrato Grill Jazz, the Huntington, Vitello’s, Catalina Jazz Club, Westin Bonaventure Hotel and the Jonathan Club. His band also presented concerts at the Brooklyn Public Library, Stone NYC and ShapeShifter Lab in New York City. |
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"Chan has given Los Angeles a jazz big band with an utterly unique tonal personality." — DownBeat Magazine, February 2014 / Kirk Silsbee |
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The “Camel Walk” project, started in 2016 with the prominent performer of suona (Chinese trumpet) Guo Yazhi (Boston), received its first performance of the complete version on the Marsee Auditorium stage on May 10, 2019. It was subsequently webcasted at JENX, the virtual Jazz Education Network Conference, in January 2021. Professional groups that have presented his works have included Grammy-nominated Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Millennium Jazz Orchestra (the Netherlands), Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Taipei Percussion, Taipei City Chinese Orchestra, Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (Los Angeles) and La Jolla Symphony. Alan Chan’s music often takes inspiration from his life experiences around the world, with a take of surprising wittiness and humor. Coming from a classical background, he began composing for jazz big band under the mentorship of Gary Lindsay in Miami, then Vince Mendoza and Shelly Berg in Los Angeles, and Jim McNeely who fanned his flame of desire to create works for jazz ensembles. As an educator, Alan directed the El Camino College Concert Jazz Band and the Jazz program for five years. He presented more than 20 concerts in the community, and conducted over 120 big band compositions from across jazz style periods. His work as an Adjunct Professor and Coordinator of the ECC Jazz Festival has earned him Achievement Award for Distinguished Teaching and Student Learning in December 2017 from Academic Senate. |
Camel Walk EPK |
Moon Walk EPK |
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Rancho Calavers • Live in Studio |
Yazhi Blues • Guo Yazhi + ACJO |
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CONTACT US!For bookings and inquires, please contact Alan Chan at a@alanchanjazzorchestra.com. |