Wu Xing – The Five Elements: Origami and Wang Zheng-Ting

One of Australia’s finest jazz/art music saxophonists, composers and band leaders Adam Simmons is launching his first national tour with his trio Origami, accompanied by world-renowned Sheng player Wang Zheng-Ting, through August—October this year.

Critics say Simmons is producing some of the most “breathtakingly beautiful” jazz in Australia or anywhere else. Electrifying both recorded and in concert, Origami’s music is quite unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

Hailed as one of Simmons’ strongest projects, the trio formed in 2010 and has wowed at festivals ever since. Origami’s sold-out concert at Stonnington Jazz Festival this year was described by Australian Book Review as “the standout performance” of the Festival.

Their album Wu Xing—The Five Elements was deservedly nominated for The Age Music Victoria Awards Best Jazz Album 2018, with its mesmerising exploration of the Wu Xing—the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) that underpin Chinese philosophy, drawing parallels between music and nature.

The Wu Xing tour comes hot on the heels of Simmons’ critically-acclaimed five-part concert series and CD box set, The Usefulness of Art, which drew four-and-five-star reviews from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Arts Hub, and Australian Book Review.

The tour features longtime Simmons collaborator Wang Zheng-Ting on Sheng (Chinese mouth organ). Ting is a world-renowned musician, musical director, lecturer, author and ethnomusicologist whose “exceptional artistry” sees the Sheng "flutter and dance with the delicacy of butterfly wings, though it can also pulse with rhythmic vitality (Sydney Morning Herald)."

Simmons is known for stretching the boundaries of modern jazz composition and performance, and infusing a sense of wonder and playfulness into musical art forms better known for their gravitas. With Origami, his alto saxophone is perfectly complemented by virtuoso bandmate Howard Cairns’ gentle strength on double bass and Hugh Harvey’s exuberant drumming style.