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Win Pongsakorn: Time Has Changed

By Jack Bowers
May 6, 2025
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Time Has Changed is the second recording as leader by trumpeter

Win Pongsakorn

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Win Pongsakorn who was born in Bangkok, Thailand, but has been firmly wedded to American-style contemporary jazz since he started playing trumpet at age fourteen in 2011. As on his debut album, Yes, It Is! (Cellar Music, 2020), Pongsakorn is backed by a stellar rhythm section overseen by the celebrated pianist

David Hazeltine

piano
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">David Hazeltine with

Paolo Benedettini

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Paolo Benedettini on bass and

Jason Brown

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Brown on drums.

Unlike that initial enterprise, on which Pongsakorn composed seven of eight numbers, he has written only four (of ten) this time around—including the next four in a row after Glen Ballard and Sarah Garrett's opening theme, the trim and handsome "Man in the Mirror." Besides the graceful title song, they include the waltz-like "Pensri," gently swaying "Hummingbirds at Balata Garden" and limber "Caipirinha." Pongsakorn then turns elsewhere with largely admirable results, covering Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," the standard "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me," Fred Lacey's pensive "Theme for Ernie" and "Imagination" (not the standard) before closing with Hazeltine's sleek and shiny "Pearls."

Much of the rationale for the complimentary appraisal rests on Pongsakorn's singular ability to embrace and enhance the heart and soul within any song, owing to his keen and soulful approach. In reviews of his earlier album, Pongsakorn was compared to such masters as

Blue Mitchell

trumpet
1930 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Blue Mitchell,

Carmell Jones

trumpet
1936 - 1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Carmell Jones and

Bobby Shew

trumpet
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Shew, among others, and he offers no reason to amend that opinion. The phrases are logical and clean, the tone is pure, and the improvisations are sharp and perceptive. An impartial listener might arguably contend that Pongsakorn plays older than his age, which is not yet thirty.

Ponsakorn also benefits from the expertise of his rhythm section, which not only provides staunch and unerring support but shares solo honors on most tracks, with Hazeltine, as always, especially creative and pleasing. Anyone who may have expected a sophomore slump from Pongsakorn will find no trace of one here. Yes, Time Has Changed, but that alteration has done nothing to lessen Pongsakorn's skills or demeanor. Indeed, based on the evidence presented here, a persuasive argument could be made that he is becoming an even more focused and inventive artist as time goes by.

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Track Listing

Man in the Mirror; Pensri; Hummingbirds at Balata Garden; Time Has Changed; Caipirinha; Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow; You��re Getting to Be a Habit with Me; Theme for Ernie; Imagination; Pearls.

Personnel

Win Pongsakorn

trumpet

David Hazeltine

piano

Paolo Benedettini

bass

Jason Brown

drums

Album information

Title: Time Has Changed | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Cellar Music Group

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