Transience — Kindred (Alex Lee and Jingwei Yuan)

Blue Griffin Recordings is pleased to announce the August 14, 2026 release of Transience — Kindred from saxophonist Alex Lee and pianist Jinwei Yuan. The album represents a journey of self-exploration and identity for Lee. As he begins in his liner notes: 

“My last name is spelled wrong. It is typically romanized as ‘Li.’ This change was done to obfuscate my Chineseness.”

His exploration of his Chinese-American heritage first began after he left the Asian-majority communities of his childhood to pursue his education in Missouri and Michigan. This journey of heritage has shaped, and continues to shape, his artistry as a saxophonist. The word “Transience”, while directly mentioned in the third movement of Zhou Tian’s Three Chinese Songs, also reflects Lee’s belief in the importance of time in our lives, and how the choices we make in spending it shape the memories, experiences, and life lessons that go on to define our futures. Of the subtitle, “Kindred”, Lee states: 

“I have left my homeland. I have yet to settle. Continuing to pursue a dream. I seek to discover my Kindred ties and the world that shapes me.”

The album features a mixture of commissions and premieres from composers Woody Mo, Nichagarn Chiracharasporn, Chen Yi, Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi, Zhou Tian, and Ryota Ishikawa. Mo’s Expectation, Lee’s first commissioned work, explores their shared Chinese heritage. Chiracharasporn’s Nocturnal Ray similarly blends cultures through the familiar sounds and forms of the nocturne. Of Chen Yi’s Chinese Ancient Dances, Lee says it is “Music of my ancestry not yet learned. … A reconnection with my heritage still to be grown.” The album looks beyond Chinese-American heritage as well, to broader combinations of East and West — as in Ryota Ishikawa’s Rhapsody on Japanese Folk Songs, which brings forth music of nostalgia and comfort for listeners of any background.