A New York based composer presents a fascinating blend of East and West,Classical and Jazz, and Sacred and Secular in a unique composition and performance style.
Ms. Pan has traveled throughout Asia, Europe, Middle East and the United States performing concerts and gathering the flavors of a multitude of cultures to blend and mix into her compositions. Mavis Pan Jazz Band is based in Brooklyn, New York and has been a member with GigMasters since 2014. Mavis Pan services Kings County and will travel up to 100 miles from Brooklyn, NY. She is a highly trained and versatile jazz pianist/singer/composer and can do variety of jazz; standards, swing, bossa nova, latin as well as unique original modern compositions. If you need a high quality jazz band for your corporates, wedding, cocktail parties or any private events, Mavis' band will bring elegant and classic ambiance to your occasions. Mavis can sing English, Portuguese, French, and Chinese she will be happy to accommodate your requests and produce a set of program that suits your needs.
Review: JazzTimes
Critique: "On My Way Home" (CD)
Mavis Pan
Genre(s): Piano Jazz; Contemporary Jazz
To Mavis Pan, home is where the groove is.
Born in Taiwan but spending the last 13 years in New York, Pan is caught between two worlds on "On My Way Home," echoing both the cultured tastes of her Asian heritage and the frantic energy of inner-city life in Harlem. It's a thrilling and endlessly fascinating combination; a yin and yang marriage that often yields explosive results.
Ulysses Owens' slamming drums that open the title track seem symbolic of Pan's introduction to African-American life; it is boisterous and filled with positive vibes. Dustin Cicero's alto sax pushes emotions even higher, bathing in the exhilaration in the air. Pan's stately piano work offers a balancing counterpoint; it is the calm in the middle of the storm. A peaceful flute provides "Indian Blues" with a soothing caress as Mark Lau's bass throbs with a deep, bellowing voice; Pan's piano remains unruffled but crackles with spunk. Pan's mastery of the piano is highlighted on "Steps," in which her fiery playing bursts from the speakers; it is quite breathtaking. Compare that to "Bossa" wherein her piano has the plushness of silk.
Most of "On My Way Home" consists of instrumentals; however, Pan does sing on a few cuts to moving effect. On "I Don't Need Roses," Pan employs a sultry croon that nearly disguises the bittersweet content of the lyrics. Her voice is downright playful on "Girl from the South Sea," acknowledging her Asian roots with giddy self-confidence.
When viewed as a travelogue, "On My Way Home" becomes an even more enriching experience. Its melting pot of cultural influences in music – American, Asian, Latin, and European – illustrate the real face of this country and reveal how wide a net that jazz music has tossed around the globe.
Biography: As an undergraduate, majoring in jazz piano performance at New York University, Ms. Panstudied jazz piano with Don Freeman, Frank Kimbrough, Peter Malinverni, classical piano with Fabio Gardenal, and vocals with Ann Phillips. She sang with the fivetime Gammy Award winning BrooklynTabernacle Choir, and continued her studies at Columbia University, where she studied conducting and voice with Dino Anagnost and earning a Master's Degree in Music & Music Education. She also earned a M.M in Music Composition from Brooklyn Conservatory of Music studying with renown contemporary composer Tania León.
Ms. Pan was a finalist of the YPMP-CACA piano competition and has performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's New York State Theater and Alice Tully Hall, and
performed in the Opening Night Gala of the Asian Nights celebration at Shea Stadium in 2004. A composer, pianist, conductor, vocalist, and dancer, Ms. Pan has written and performed her own choral originals, jazz originals and arrangements, chamber music, and solo instrumental and vocal works across the United States, Europe and Asia. She was the composer in residence and choir director at Emanuel Presbyterian Church in New York for five years, where she premiered numerous new works with the choir and chamber orchestra. Recently, the Kiev Philharmonic Symphony recorded her choral work, A Christmas Carol, under the ERM label, available on and by other major
distributors.
After Ms. Pan made her debut Jazz album "On My Way Home" in 2010, she spend an year in Shanghai performing and teaching and had students from all over China to participate in the Jazz Intensive Music Camp in Shanghai. She has released her second album "Not Alone" in 2016 featuring for solo piano improvisation on well-known hymns.
Ms. Pan currently performs and teaches in the metropolitan New York area and is about to release her third jazz album "Set for Love", featuring her original love songs on Christmas 2018.