The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and vibraphonist-composer Yuhan Su. Her new album OVER the MOONs features an eight-piece ensemble including Alex LoRe (alto saxophone, flute), Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Matt Mitchell (piano), Yingda Chen (guitar), Marty Kenney (acoustic and electric bass), James Paul Nadien (drums), and Shinya Lin (electronics). Conceived during a 2024 residency at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, the project blends acoustic improvisation with electronic processing to explore themes of dual consciousness and cultural identity.
OVER the MOONs was released on 17 October 2025 via Endectomorph Music. Links to purchase the album and visit Su’s website appear at the end of this article.
Taiwan-born vibraphonist-composer Yuhan Su builds OVER the MOONs on the idea that two moons orbit inside her head: two cultures, two languages, two musical worlds, each drawing its own tide, and converging into one voice.
Written largely during a 2024 residency at the Ucross Foundation in rural Wyoming, the album reflects Su’s evolving sense of “double consciousness,” the constant negotiation between where she comes from and where she has made her life in music.
The eight-piece ensemble she assembled for the project allows her to realise that duality with new scale and depth, involving lush harmonic writing, interlocking rhythmic systems, and expanding the vibraphone through effects pedals, distortion, and electronics.
For Su, the music is less about showcasing solos than revealing how these voices interact. Acoustic improvisation and electronic processing intertwine; Mandarin and English are braided together; hyper-detailed composition is matched with intuitive feeling.
“That really embraced the craziness in the music. I felt like, It’s possible, so I want to try to reach it,” Su says. Read on for our full conversation.
UK Jazz News: Tell me about your 2025. What path led to OVER the MOONs?
Yuhan Su: After my last release, [2023’s] Liberated Gesture – a quartet/quintet album – I wanted to expand that concept and also do something different. I play in a couple of big bands, and I always have this lush harmony sound in my mind. I wanted something bigger, but not a big band – that’s impossible to put together in a practical way.
The idea was a medium-large ensemble, an octet-ish thing. And then the concept of double consciousness… I was thinking about that a lot. One afternoon my friend, the guitarist, was playing [music from] two laptops at once, one playing John Coltrane and another playing Japanese punk rock. It actually fit together so well, and I thought: that’s probably how my brain works all the time.
All these cultures, languages, and musical ways of thinking are happening together. I wanted to project those “two ways of things” inside one music.
In February 2024, I went to Ucross in Wyoming for a month, and that’s where I wrote most of the music. I’ve only been to three residencies, and this one was my favourite. Also the most productive.
UKJN: What made Ucross transformative for you?
YS: I was talking to a writer there, and he brought up “double consciousness.” He told me this confusion I feel actually exists, that there’s a name for it. That put all my thoughts on a map.
It was such a luxury time – beautiful landscape, a private chef cooking for the artists, nothing to worry about. You can do whatever you want. You feel like you can write anything you imagine. Everything is possible.
UKJN: You mentioned a “lush harmony sound.” Who are your favorite harmonic thinkers in jazz?
YS: In the past couple of years, I’ve really loved Steve Lehman’s work.
UKJN: Me too. His music is on a different intellectual plane, but it never makes you feel dumb. It sweeps you along, takes you on the ride.
YS: That’s what I love the most. I feel like people talk all the time about how these people are super smart, and how all [this music] is very calculated, but people can also appreciate it in an intuitive way.
He has projects from small groups to large groups. And for vibraphone, he made special bars for microtonal music. That’s crazy. I’ve played microtonal bars touring with Amir ElSaffar’s band – I don’t have them myself – but I love microtonal sound. In my music, I try to use a lot of chromatic, close-together notes to create that fainting effect. That’s what I’m going for.
UKJN: What’s it like playing microtonal vibraphone?
YS: The one I used only had four or five microtonal keys. The rest was standard tuning. But it creates this very interesting, bizarre sound world.
UKJN: Who are your favorite microtonal composers?
Su: Wow… I don’t have an answer right now. I’ll go for Steve. I also love Anna Webber – her current work, and her big band with microtonal stuff. That’s awesome. She’s such a badass. Also chill. I love her.
UKJN: How did you and Anna come together?
YS: At first I went to a lot of her shows. I simply loved her music. And she plays a lot with Matt Mitchell.
Eventually I subbed in the Webber/Morris Big Band, and I recorded their current album, so we started playing each other’s music. It’s awesome.
UKJN: What do you appreciate about Matt Mitchell?
YS: He’s just a master of piano. He opens up a different level of musical vocabulary for me. I’ve played with him the past four years.
His compositions have so much detail; you can dig into them in so many ways. It opens different ways of improvising and composing. Playing with him is awesome – he’s always following you in such a deep way. Whatever I play, he’ll be there.
UKJN: Had you worked with an electronics artist like Shinya Lin before?
YS: This is the first time, actually. Back in Taiwan in graduate school, I took Max MSP classes and did some noise music. But when I came to the States, I focused on jazz and put that aside.
That sound always stuck with me, though. In the past two years I got to know Shinya, and what he does is very interesting. I’m glad to bring electronics back. It’s the glue that matches the worlds together on this record.
UKJN: Tell me about Alex LoRe.
YS: He played on my third record, [2018’s] City Animals. He’s such a lyrical horn player. Although he has crazy technique, everything he plays sings so beautifully. Like a bird.
He’s also very kind, and really cares about your musical vision. I’m glad to have him back. He sounds so great with Anna – they share this understanding of classical and new music.
UKJN: Was emigrating to the U.S. a big component of this dual-consciousness concept?
YS: Yeah. I came here first to study jazz, and it kept going – staying, working, making music.
I was in Taiwan until I was 25. I already had a whole system of how to do things. Coming here, I had to readjust everything. It’s similar to getting into jazz, learning a new culture and a new music form. It all comes together.
UKJN: Are there many Taiwanese musicians in the New York jazz scene?
YS: A couple, yeah. Compared to other countries, not a lot.
UKJN: Take us through the album title.
YS: This album is about double meanings. ‘Over the moon’ means super happy, and I wanted that playfulness.
It starts with ‘Pieces Peace’. In Mandarin we say that during Lunar New Year: if you break a plate or cup, people say “pieces peace,” which means good luck will come. The composition plays around note series – groups with the same interval – going in different directions, breaking down, counterpoint, happening over a disco rhythm so people can groove.
‘Tomorrow’ has heavy electronics. We sampled the melody and went in different directions. It brings out that back-and-forth feeling: yesterday, today, tomorrow.
‘Two Moons’ is the main meaning of the record, a long song with two worlds happening in their own rhythm that eventually merge.
‘Roaring Hours’ has heavy metal-ish energy.
‘Olfactory Memory’ features group comping behind the melody, kind of floating.
‘Genius and Dumb’ has me speaking Mandarin. It basically means genius and dumb are one line away: today I’m a genius, tomorrow I suck. [Laughs] I got that from a choreographer at Ucross, the idea that a genius idea yesterday can feel super stupid today. We turned the voice memo into a sample – Shinya and I improvise and trade together. It sounds awesome.
And the last song: ‘Too Much Time Matching Clouds’. In the cabin at Ucross there’s a notebook artists write in. Jason Moran wrote: “Spend too much time matching the clouds, and too little stuff gets done.” I thought that was beautiful. I wrote the song to honour that time in Wyoming.
UKJN: Is Mandarin a helpful emotional language for music?
YS: Yeah. For example, after people work very hard, we say 辛苦了 – “thank you for your hard work.” After a show, after a day, we always say it. You don’t really express that here. It’s cultural; some expressions only exist in one culture.
UKJN: What’s coming up for you?
YS: In November I take a break. In December, I’m playing two nights at Smalls with quartets.
One group is Steinhardt on drums, Marty Kenney on bass, and Glenn Zaleski on piano.
The other day is a different quartet, from a new trio I formed this year: Mark Whitfield Jr. on drums, Luke Stewart on bass, and Caleb Curtis on saxophone. I did a residency at The Jazz Gallery this year and got to try many sets. That trio is something I want to work toward – maybe eventually an album.
