Here is a link to the Playlist for the Sung, Goods, Nash JazzNights 22:

Texas born and educated Helen Sung is another of the remarkable group of pianists who were semifinalists at the 1999 Monk Competition (JazzNights has been lucky enough to have presented two others from that group, Orrin Evans and John Stetch). She started as a classical pianist, and says she was turned on to jazz when she heard Tommy Flanagan's trio's (Elvin Jones, George Mraz) "Confirmation" CD. She clearly had good taste from the very beginning, as well as the strength of character to resist all sorts of pressures not to enter the difficult world of jazz. After getting her bachelors and masters degrees from The University of Texas, she was in the first class at the Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, then based at the New England Conservatory, and graduated in 1997. She played in the Boston scene, and came to New York shortly thereafter. Her growth in the years since the Monk Competition has been extraordinary, and she started at a very high starting level! Her technique has always been prodigious; to that she's added sensitivity and the depth that comes from added years of playing. She's studied and played with the best: Barry Harris, Sir Roland Hanna were early piano teachers, and she currently works with Clark Terry, Regina Carter, and T. S. Monk among many others. Like so many of today's young jazz musicians, she's played with the Mingus Big Band and still makes an occasional appearance with that great ensemble. She is increasingly prominent as a leader, mostly in duos and trios, although I heard her last December as a soloist in Jim Luce's series at Klavierhaus in New York. She has two recent trio CDs "Push," (2003) mostly a small group session largely devoted to originals (Richie Goods is also on that CD), and "Helenistique," (2006) a collection of (mostly) jazz standards, including some quite adventuresome ones. She has an affinity for odd meters, it seems, which naturally leads her to Monk (The Waiting Game, a Monkish Sung original and Ugly Beauty on Push, and Bye Ya on Helenistique). Her treatment of standards can be unusual, and she is unafraid of taking on, for example, James P. Johnson's Carolina Shout, a daunting task indeed, given the strength of James P's version. This tune is a legendary test case, one used to sort out the pros from the amateurs. Helen's a pro. On Henenistique, she also plays Ellington's classic Cottontail (aka Shuckin'), written for the great tenor player Ben Webster. Ben's intensity comes through in her version.

Her current trio often includes bassist Richie Goods, who appeared here on JazzNights 3 with Mulgrew Miller. He studied at Berklee College of Music and is a former student of Ron Carter's. He is one of a group of excellent young bassists around today, and has already played with "everybody," Don Braden, Vincent Herring, Vanessa Rubin, Russell Malone, and Antonio Hart, for example. He has also recorded two fine trio albums with Miller, With Our Own Eyes, Novus 63171-2, 1993, (with Tony Reedus) and Getting to Know You, Novus 63188-2, 1995, (with a superior rhythm section: Big Black, Karriem Riggins, and Steve Kroon). There's a nice tune from Richie Goods himself on this one, "Nandhi."

Helen's trio usually features the great drummer Lewis Nash, in our opinion the very best on his instrument around these days. That's saying a lot, because there are many excellent drummers today. Lewis' roots are deep, and his education impeccable. He started at the age of 10 and by his early twenties was working with Sonny Stitt, Art Pepper, and Lee Konitz. In 1981, he began a four-year stint with Betty Carter, and there is no better education in jazz than Betty Carter University. In 1999, he became the drummer in the best of the Tommy Flanagan trios (Peter Washington was the bassist). This marvelous group was probably the greatest jazz trio of our times. The origins of today's jazz drumming go far back to one of the greatest drummers ever, Max Roach, who died just a few days ago. The last living of the giants who created modern jazz, Mr. Roach never lost sight of the need to keep the group balanced and propelled, but he surely was not content with that role. It was he, along with Kenny Clarke, who began the transformation of the drums from a timekeeping device into a melodic instrument. Lewis Nash is today's Roach, impeccable in his timekeeping, but at the same time always doing something that arrests your attention. It's exciting work, demanding of the listener, not to mention the artist, but well worth the effort! Jazz drumming these days seems sometimes obsessed with what one might call "the permanent solo" style, surely an extension of what Mr. Roach began, but at times maybe just a tad over the top. Lewis Nash gets it exactly right, I think: always creative, always tasteful, always just the best at what he does.

Some representative CDs:

Flanagan, Mraz, Jones, Confirmation. ENJA 40142

Sung, Goods, Brian Blade, Marcus Strickland, Jeffrey Haynes, Push, Fresh Sound FSNT 169

Sung, Hodge, Nash, Helenistique, Fresh Sound FSNT 251

Sung, Marcus Strickland, Reiben Rogers, Nasheet Waits, Samuel Torres, Sungbird, after Albeniz , Sunnyside 1173 JUST OUT

Miller, Goods, Reedus, With Our Own Eyes, Novus 63171-2

Miller, Goods, Big Black, Riggins, Kroon, Getting to Know You, Novus 63188-2

Nash, Steve Nelson, Washington, Kroon, Ron Carter, Rhythm is My Business, Evidence, ECD 22041-2

Nash, Steve Nelson, Peter Washington, Stompin' at the Savoy, Pony Canyon Records (Japan) MYCJ-30327 and many, many CDs as sideman. >