photo: Mariana Meraz

SPOTLIGHT 34: EUGENIA CHOE / THE NEW YORK SECOND / CAMERON PEARCE / RAHEL TALTS

textura is excited and honoured to feature Eugenia Choe, The New York Second, Cameron Pearce, and Rahel Talts in its thirty-fourth ‘Spotlight,' with each artist represented by a superb, recently issued album: So We Speak (Choe), Room For Other People (TNYS), Progression (Pearce), and New and Familiar (Talts). textura is deeply grateful to the artists for contributing to the article.

photo: Mariana Meraz

EUGENIA CHOE

Who: I'm a Korean-American jazz pianist and composer currently living in New York City. Having spent my early childhood in South Korea and formative years in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York, I've cultivated a deep and intimate connection with diverse cultures. This rich background has profoundly influenced my style of composition and improvisation. In addition to leading my own projects, I've performed as an accompanist and sideperson with many accomplished musicians in renowned jazz venues across New York and internationally. Since the release of my successful debut album in 2016, I've been an artist with SteepleChase Records. My latest project, So We Speak, was released in February 2025 on Sunnyside Records.

What: I love playing all styles of jazz music (from traditional to modern), but my original music also blends classical (or chamber-like) elements into a modern jazz sound. Interplay and group improvisations are important to me, so my bandmates contribute a great deal to the creative process when I perform on stage.

Currently: So We Speak, with vibraphonist Yuhan Su, and vocalist Soong Yi Jeon, was recently released on Sunnyside Records. I'm also going to record with a collective project, Table Talk, this April. This modern jazz quartet features original compositions that share a cohesive theme, blending vibrant energy with odd-meter jazz elements. Lastly, my piano trio (with bass and drums) will record our third trio album this summer.

Musical philosophy: I like to be a good story-teller in my compositions and performances. I believe that good compositions will create a strong connection between artists and listeners, and sharing energy at a live performance will make them feel even more bonded. I think music is not only presentable but also shareable.

Favourite artists and strongest influences: There are too many, but if I have to pick two ... Brahms, first of all, has been one of my strongest influences since I started playing the piano. You'll probably hear some of his counterpoint lines and harmonic ideas in my own compositions. I even get inspired to use his musical ideas when I improvise. The other one is Bill Evans (of course). He's been the most influential figure for me since the first day I started playing jazz. I feel he is perfect in every way with his extraordinary feel, technique, harmony, language, and ability as an arranger.

A memorable recording and event, concert, or experience: I have to say that my first piano trio recording was quite memorable. Everything was so overwhelming. It was my first recording as a band-leader, and I learned how difficult it is to be a decision maker! At the end of the recording, I was not sure the record would ever be released, but luckily it turned out much better than I might have felt at the moment. With that debut recording, I got to build my relationship with SteepleChase.

Also, one of the most memorable experiences I had was a residency in Switzerland in 2024. I was living in the middle of the Alps, and all I needed to think about was writing music. After spending over a decade of busy, non-stop life in New York, it was more difficult than I thought to be relaxed and focused in this serene environment. Although it took me a minute to be at ease and really appreciate everything around me, eventually I was able to focus and write a lot of new music. And guess what, it was very hard to adjust back to New York life when I returned!

Lastly, the most recent memorable event was my tour I just finished in Taiwan and South Korea. Unlike some experienced audiences in America, we got to play for many first-time jazz listeners. I was a little concerned in the beginning because many of them were not very familiar with modern jazz and free improvisation. However, I decided to become a docent of music to them. I shared the inspiration I got when I was writing my compositions and the background story of every tune. In the end, the connection and energy we shared were very magical. We laughed and cried together through my music.

website: EUGENIA CHOE

photo: Tom Beek (Harald Walkate third from right)

THE NEW YORK SECOND

Who (Harald Walkate): I was born and raised in the Netherlands and now live in Amsterdam, though I've also spent substantial time living in France, Spain, New York, and Chicago. My main career is in sustainable finance, but from an early age I've played the piano and have composed.

In 2015 I decided to form a group to play my compositions: The New York Second. Over the years we've released four albums, and we're now releasing our fifth, Room for Other People, an octet album inspired by the photography of Vivian Maier. The group consists of what I consider to be the best jazz musicians playing in the Netherlands today, and on the most recent album we're joined by the American vibraphonist Rob Waring, who lives in Oslo.

What: Over the last ten years I've been focused exclusively on playing and arranging my own compositions. I assemble different format ensembles, all under the name The New York Second, depending on what I think the music calls for: quartet, quintet, septet, trio and—on the latest album—octet. I'm now making plans to play with a piano-double bass duo.

The music seems to defy categorization: it's often labeled “contemporary jazz,” but critics have spotted Latin, classical, and R&B influences in it, and often call it “cinematic,” “atmospheric,” and “dreamy.” I really like to think of it as the kind of music I'd most like to listen to myself; what makes it “jazz” is that it has a lot of improvisational elements. A recent critic said, “Your sound is unlike any other I've heard,” which I took as a major compliment.

Currently: Room for Other People, the octet album with music inspired by Vivian Maier's photography. She was a street photographer, also known as the “nanny photographer” because she worked as a nanny her entire life and was a photographer on the side. She produced a couple of hundred thousand photos, mostly B&W pictures of New York and Chicago street scenes, that were never published or exhibited during her life and were discovered at an auction, when they went viral. It raises very interesting questions about why we engage in art—for the audience? for money? for our own self-validation?—and I saw a lot of interesting parallels between her photography and how I approach music.

Each of the ten compositions I wrote is inspired by a specific Vivian Maier photo, and we are currently releasing each track separately, with that photo as artwork; the photos are also printed in the CD's booklet. We're very happy with how the product turned out, but the response from audiences and critics has been beyond anything we could imagine; it seems to resonate incredibly strongly, even with people who are not really jazz or photography aficionados.

We were incredibly lucky to have the fabulous vibraphonist Waring join us for the recording of Room for Other People, and he also came to the Netherlands for the recent release concerts. We took that opportunity to spend two days in the studio to record some new material, as a quartet (piano, vibraphone, drums, bass) but also as a vibraphone-piano duo. It will be a while before we get around to listening to it and then mixing and mastering, but I hope to release that music later this year. I also have plans to start playing with a bass player for a number of piano-double bass compositions that I wrote last year.

Musical philosophy: I made a record a few years ago called Music at Night (and Other Stories), that was inspired mostly by a book of essays by Aldous Huxley about music and art. Huxley said, “After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” That's amazingly well said and really captures how many musicians and composers conceptualize their art form. Since I read that, I'm able to better articulate what I'm trying to do with my music, which is to express the inexpressible.

For Room for Other People, I worked with Tom Beek, an amazing saxophonist who's also an excellent photographer and who co-produced the album with me. We even spent a week together in New York to retrace some of Vivian Maier's footsteps. He's very funny so we had a great time and lots of laughs, but he's also very serious about his music and art, and this gave us many opportunities to discuss philosophy of music, especially based on questions raised by Vivian Maier's life and work, who basically stored her thousands of photographs in boxes, never to be seen by anyone during her life. This led us to agree that ultimately we probably embark on our musical journeys to better understand the world, to try to ‘capture' reality, and perhaps to make reality a bit more beautiful by rearranging and reshaping it ourselves.

photo: Jacob van Essen

Favourite artists and strongest influences: I have far too many to mention! On my Spotify profile I published playlists with music from artists that I consider to be my main influences, one for jazz, one for rock, soul and Latin, and I'm currently working on a classical list. I really enjoy listening back to music that I listened to growing up and trying to work out which elements have entered my musical lexicon.

However, for the most recent album I've identified three artists that I feel make themselves heard in the music in particular: Pat Metheny, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and Steve Reich. It seems Metheny-like long-form harmonies and melodies have conspired with Reich's stretched-out rhythmic patterns and Jobim's languid bossa nova feel to create the music and arrangements on the album. I didn't set out for it to be that way; it's just what came out when I sat down at the piano, but one of Vivian Maier's biographers sent me a nice e-mail saying, “The music perfectly captures Vivian's world,” so there must be some kind of deep chemistry going on …

A memorable recording and event, concert, or experience: A memorable experience was the first time my group played together with Teus Nobel, a fabulous trumpeter who has played on three of my albums and who has become a good friend. I am so incredibly impressed by how seriously he takes music and was also amazed at how much better the band sounded when he was on stage, and it took me a while to figure out how this happened. It seems it's just by virtue of his playing or giving simple nods or little shakes of the head to indicate his sense of where this should go—it's really this intangible form of leadership. It made me realize that if I want my music to reach a higher level, to depart from the page, so to speak, I have to surround myself with more musicians like that.

A memorable concert was the release concert for Room for Other People on February 1st at PHIL Haarlem. Everything just came together so well after about two years of working on the project—composing, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering—all the musicians on stage in this beautiful hall, the Vivian Maier photos projected on a large screen behind us, the CD with the beautiful booklet was available, the audience was super-appreciative, and I had a fantastic time at the piano, taking it all in. Of course we hope we can play the music more often with this group, but even if we don't, this evening made it worthwhile.

website: THE NEW YORK SECOND

photo: Cameron Pearce

CAMERON PEARCE

Who: I hail from Christchurch, New Zealand and started learning the cornet at the age of ten before shifting to trumpet in my early teens. As a trumpeter, I've performed with many international and New Zealand artists such as Diana Krall, Arturo O'Farrell and The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra (Birdland), Bobby Shew, James Morrison, Michael Phillip Mossman, David Berkman, Beth Hart, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn, Julia Deans, Tami Neilson, Nadia Reid, The Adults, Goldenhorse, Anika Moa, ENZO, Tim Beveridge, Dame Melvina Major, and Sir Howard Morrison.

My arranging and composition credits include projects with acclaimed international jazz artists such as Dave Douglas, Ingrid Jensen, Terrell Stafford, and David Berkman as well as Dave Dobbyn, JuliaDeans, Sir Howard Morrison, Tim Beveridge, Ali Harper, Symposium, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Vector Wellington Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, The Court theatre, Showbiz Christchurch, and numerous other theatre companies around New Zealand. I recently had my book Modern Etudes for Solo Trumpet published by Sher Music.

I joined the teaching staff at Ara Music Arts in 1998 and in the years since have lectured across the majority of the core subjects. I currently specialize in Jazz Theory, Jazz Arranging & Composition, and trumpet studies. I hold a Bachelor of Musical Arts from Ara Institute of Technology and have a Master of Arts degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music, City University of New York.

What: I'm equally at home playing jazz, classical or pop styles and am in regular demand as a performer across a wide range of musical genres. I've been a member of the Christchurch Symphony since 1995 and am also regularly called upon for pit orchestras and recording session work around Christchurch.

Currently: My recently released Progression began by looking at how compositions might be created for a brass ensemble and jazz soloist by drawing inspiration from Aaron Copland, Kenny Wheeler, and Ron Miles. The project features jazz star Ingrid Jensen as featured soloist along with members of Symposium Jazz Dectet and The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. The compositions were brought together as a studio album in late 2024.

Favourite artists and strongest influences: Like many, I have a really strong connection to a lot of music that came out in the mid to late '80s, and one of the artists that I've gone back to time and time again is Bruce Hornsby. His music covers a lot of territory, and I was inspired by a number of his solo piano pieces when composing for my recent project. I'm also a big Larry Goldings fan. He's made musical contributions of the highest order across a myriad of musical genres, and I find his output incredibly inspiring.

A memorable concert: In 2006 I attended the IAJE conference in New York and got to see the WDR Big Band and the Maria Schneider Orchestra perform live on the same night. I'd never experienced live performances of this calibre before, and it took a while for me to pick my jaw up off the floor.

website: CAMERON PEARCE

photo: Kerttu Kruusla

RAHEL TALTS

Who: I'm a young Estonian jazz pianist and composer who in recent years has been musically active in Denmark, Lithuania, and Estonia as well as other countries around Europe. I like to write music for different combos, especially larger ensembles. I take part in multiple bands and projects in Europe as a leader as well as group member. I have my own international fourteen-member band called Rahel Talts Ensemble, whose first album, released in February 2022 and called Power of Thought, received a lot of positive feedback. Its newest album was released on January 31st, 2025 and is titled New and Familiar.

Another combo that I lead is my quartet, which has toured Europe and Asia and released in 2023 the album Greener Grass. I've studied under and played with jazz legends such as Seamus Blake, Lage Lund, Yaron Herman, Melissa Aldana, Theo Croker, and Ziv Ravitz. In 2021, I was selected to be one of the fifteen young jazz musicians in the Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy project in Hamburg. In 2023, I was chosen to represent Estonia in the legendary Euroradio Jazz Orchestra and was also one of the finalists in the Helsinki Big Band Composing Contest.

What: My music is jazz with influences from a lot of different other styles. Nordic and Baltic folk are in there, in the melodies mainly, and there are also influences from traditional jazz and bebop, and even gospel-like music might be heard in the beats and harmonies. It's usually uplifting, with a positive and bright tone.

Currently: In addition to New and Familiar, another album is in the mixing stage with my quartet and UK guitarist Rob Luft and another trio album will be recorded in May 2025.

Favourite artists and strongest influences: My biggest influence is Pat Metheny. I've listened to his music since I was born (because my parents are musicians) and his compositions and playing have really stuck with me through the years and definitely influenced a lot of my music writing, consciously and subconsciously. Another artist who's had an effect on me is Yellowjackets with Russell Ferrante and of course Bob Mintzer. The sound picture of the group's music is often very uplifting and positive, and so I believe there is some influence from them. There are so many more that I am influenced by in folk, gospel, and traditional jazz, but those maybe are the biggest ones.

A memorable recording and event, concert, or experience: Mike Stern's Voices (2001). His music and playing are very close to my heart. I've listened to this album since childhood, and it communicates warmth and comfort and has definitely influenced my composing as well. A Pat Metheny concert—his Unity group, featuring Chris Potter—in Tallinn, Estonia many years ago when I first heard him live. That was a surreal and incredible concert. And meeting Russell Ferrante last May—such a great musician and person!

website: RAHEL TALTS

March 2025