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Jazz Articles about Kaoru Watanabe
Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens: American Railroad: A Musical Journey of Reclamation
by Katchie Cartwright
Rhiannon Giddens is not afraid of big projects. American Railroad, the album, is part of a larger work, subtitled A Musical Journey of Reclamation, which Giddens initiated with the widely acclaimed Silkroad Ensemble, a diverse international collective of performers, improvisers and composers created by Yo Yo Ma. American Railroad digs into the building of America's transcontinental railway system, focusing on voices that have been missing from public narratives: voices of the laborers on whose backs the hard work fell, of ...
Continue Reading9 Horses: Strum
by Neil Duggan
There are no prizes for guessing that this album from 9 Horses is called Strum because every track features the sound of a strummed instrument. There are over 20 stringed instruments involved, with mandolins, violins, guitars, banjos, basses and pianos, in various combinations, forming the main components. They are strummed, plucked or otherwise coaxed into life by a core trio of mandolinist Joe Brent, violinist Sara Caswell and bassist Andrew Ryan. Although there are many stringed instruments, that does nothing ...
Continue ReadingHu Vibrational: Timeless
by Geno Thackara
An Adam Rudolph recording is less a collection of musical pieces than of sound paintings. The elements he works with are musical ones--any instrument known to mankind might be used, and often even used to play notes--but traditions of form and melody tend to be tossed out the window from the start. The tones are treated as daubs of paint on a palette, splashed here and there whenever they will add something to whichever imaginary landscape he is evoking at ...
Continue ReadingKaoru Watanabe: Néo
by James Nadal
Nostalgia, in Japanese, lightly translates into natsukashisa, a yearning for something from the past. American born, multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe has reverted to his ancestral Japan for inspiration on Néo, a synthesis of dignified taiko drumming with the jazz sensibility of improvisation. Prepared with a degree in jazz flute and saxophone performance, Watanabe spent a decade performing and touring with Kodo, the globally recognized taiko drum ensemble, and has contributed to the Silk Road Project. This recording of original compositions, is ...
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