Assoc.Prof.Dr. Saksri Pang Vongtaradon
In January of 2010, he released his debut album, Seagull, featuring nine of his originals. The album was nominated for Kom Chad Luek award for 2010 best instrumental album. Rob Young, a renown jazz journalist of the Urbanflux website, wrote in his review of the album, “On “Seagull,” the pianist convincingly unleashes his voice through the complexities embedded within the context of these wonderful compositions. Amazingly, Saksri’s style is fluent, poignant, intense and challenges you as the listener to return time and again to this intuitive palette of music!” The album includes several leading Thai jazz musicians, including Pisut Pratheepasena on the Saxophone, Pongsiri Kajornvaekin on the Guitar, Pornchart Viriyapark on the Bass, and Chanutr Techatananant on the drums. His album can be purchased directly from him at his shows and is available online at www.itune.com, and www.cdbaby.com
Pang started playing Electone when he was 10, and was the third-place winner of the Yamaha Thailand Electone competition in 1993. He began his piano training by studying with classical pianist, Chavalida Kruasingh in 1991. After finishing his degree in Economics from Chulalongkorn University, he furthered his music study at the University of North Texas’s renown jazz department. While at UNT, he was selected to study with visiting artists like Jim McNeely, Benny Green, Bill Charlap, and Russell Ferrante. He studied jazz piano, improvisation, and jazz composition with Dan Hearle, Stefan Karlsson, Fred Hamilton, Lynn Seaton, and Paris Rutherford. He also studied classical piano with Adam Wodnicki and Steven Harlos. He has appeared with the UNT Symphony Orchestra, and Lynn Seaton, performing at top venues including the Byron Nelson Masters, the Reunion Arena, and the Four Seasons in Dallas/Fort Worth area.
His interests are not limited to only jazz piano playing, but also in compositions. He has studied jazz composition with a Grammy nominee for best Jazz Composition, Neil Slater, and Paris Rutherford. He also studied classical composition with Hideko Kawamoto and Michael Thompson, and was selected among composition students to study with Samuel Adler and Josef Schwantner while they visited UNT.
Upon returning to Bangkok in 2004, after receiving a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies, Saksri Pang Vongtaradon has rapidly become a staple of Thailand’s jazz scene and performing regularly in Bangkok. In 2010, he was commissioned to write music for and to perform with the Thailand All Stars bigband, featuring Eric Marienthal, and Thai vocal sensation, Gob Saovanit at Hua Hin jazz festival. He has shared the stage with many international and Thai artists including Javon Jackson, Lynn Seaton, Eric Marienthal, Josee Koning, Steve Cannon, Shawn Kelly, Dan Phillips, Jerry Byrd, Alice Day, and Chirasak Panphum. He is currently teaching jazz piano and jazz ensembles at the Faculty of Music, Silpakorn University.
Discography
- Seagull (2008)
As sideman
- All in one (GMM Records, 2007), Chirasak Panphum
- Yellowtail (Blue Dots Records, 2008), Karn Suriyasasin