I grew up in Long Island, New York with my mother, father and two older sisters.
Enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music since 2017, I have been living in West Harlem and gigging/leading my own band around the city at some venues like Dizzy’s Club, Kitano Jazz, Tomi Jazz and the 55 Bar. I was a member of the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band for two seasons, where I had the incredible opportunity to play with great artists at Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as do volunteer work at local schools and nursing homes in Manhattan and the Bronx.
In 2019, I was chosen by Jazz at Lincoln Center to share the stage with Erica Von Kleist in Whitefish, Montana for a MLK memorial concert, where I had the opportunity to work with high school students in her program as well as perform alongside her in a state-wide broadcasted radio performance.
Outside of the jazz world, I have a lot of musical experience, playing percussion in many of the Manhattan School of Music productions, as well as in summer stock and community theaters. Last summer, I played over 400 shows in Kings Dominion Theme park, with two different bands: Yacht Rockers and Hot Rhythm Nights. This was through the entertainment company RWS and was an excellent opportunity to gain entertainment experience.
I’m also the co-founder of Brave Sound Productions, a business Austin Zhang and I started. We started Brave Sound to preserve, give platform to, and foster community around NYC’s creative and improvised music scene. Our mission is to help NYC’s improvised music community take their live performance-based art and package it in new ways that are cost-effective, competitive, and distributable in our modern times. You can find information about that here: https://bravesound.org/about/