Improvisation adds a modern twist to ancient tunes

Besides music awards in China, Ye's creations have also won international acclaim. His 2009 album Masterpieces of the Chinese Qin from the Tang Dynasty to Today, which was performed by guqin player Zhao Jiazhen, won the Best Traditional Music Album at the 2011 Independent Music Awards.

One of his latest albums is When the Blues Meet Chinese Folk Music released in 2017. Musicians from 10 countries, including Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Russell Ferrante, performed a variety of Chinese folk songs for the album. The songs include Just Past Sunset of Guangxi and Sheep Belly Headband with Three Blue Stripes from Shaanxi province.

"The most challenging aspect of making the album was finding ways to have the Chinese material feel natural and organic in a jazz and blues context. Some elements we had to work with were really quite uncharacteristic of the styles we were attempting to merge them with. It was a fun challenge," says Los Angeles-based pianist and composer Ross Garren, who helped rearrange songs for the album.

"This is the first time I've worked with Chinese folk music and I really enjoyed exploring this rich tradition."

For Ye, a self-taught musician who divides his days between traveling alone and making music, the process of releasing each album starts with his random ideas which he calls "crazy".

Last year, Ye went to Boston and met suona player Guo Yazhi, who studied at the Berklee College of Music, before initiating the idea of combining Chinese wind instruments with organ music. The result was an album titled Endless Journey which gathered musicians from countries including China, Israel, Turkey and the United States.

Released in last November, the album was recorded at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall in the US state of Massachusetts.

According to Ye, the organ in the Methuen Memorial Music Hall is considered the first concert organ in the US. Built in Germany by E.F. Walcker and Company, it arrived in the US in 1863.

"We recorded the album for three days, eight hours a day. I didn't feel exhausted because when the sounds of the organ and my instrument worked together, it was magical," says Guo, adding that he shares Ye's ambition of popularizing Chinese music worldwide.