"Reflections From a War" a Multi-Media Presentation

Performing music from their latest release “TRACKING and from their 1990 release “WAR STORIES".

KIMOTION ensemble member, actor/musician Gary Sinise, co-produced and performed on electric bass for the TRACKING release.

In 1970 Kimo Williams was a soldier in Vietnam. As a combat engineer his unit was responsible for clearing the dense jungle in preparations for combat fire bases. A very dangerous job as it relates to land mines and bobby traps. While in Vietnam Kimo found haven from the everyday drudgery of a combat environment by playing music and recording melodies into a little cheap tape recorder. He bought a $30.00 guitar his first day in Vietnam and has not been without a guitar since. The experience of Vietnam has affected many people in many different ways. As a composer Kimo Williams can only use his music to speak to what he remembers from his duty as an American soldier at war. He has composed jazz, rock , classical, dixieland, pop. He has written symphonies performed by the Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta and other national and international orchestras. He has been commisioned by The Joffrey Ballet, AT&T and The West Point Military Academy among others. His main idiom for expressing his emotions from the war is his own unique style of jazz rock influenced composing using his technique called “Diagonal Harmony".

“Reflections From A War" will feature Kimo's music performed by 20 Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles area musicians. The concert is July 10th, 2002 at 7:30 pm at The Smothers Auditorium, Pepperdine University, Malibu California. As an artist Kimo also took hundreds of photographs while he was a soldier in Vietnam. He will share these with the audience as projected images on a large screen with commentary from the stage between compositions. Tickets are $25.00 Call 310 506.4522 for ticket information . Tickets are also available from Ticketmaster at 213/365-3500.

A reception hosted by KIMOTION ensemble members ,will follow the concert. Proceeds from this event will benefit ArtSynergy a Columbia College Chicago collaborative inter-arts initiative between the United States and Vietnam that will sponsor a 2004 concert in Vietnam with the KIMOTION ensemble augmented by the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra the Ho Chi Minh Symphony Orchestra.

KIMOTION, formerly known as The Paumalu Symphony was formed in 1975. Kimo wrote music specifically for his ensemble so as to express his compositional concepts. These concepts involved his own unique harmonic technique called Diagonal Harmony. With 22 musicians, the Kimotion ensemble includes four trumpets, four trombones, five saxes, two guitars, keyboards, percussion, bass, drums, three violins, viola and cello. The music is high energy combining rock with jazz and all places in-between.

Reviews of Kimo's Symphonic Big Band Rock music are as follows:

“Powerful Stuff 41/2 stars" --Downbeat

“A fat slick sound with horns slicing through guitar grunge" --Jazziz

“Williams' comes up with a sound that is sheer energy and unpretentious" --The Chicago SunTimes

“Williams' brilliant, razor-edged mosaics bristle with the audacious rawness of Zappa" --JazzTimes

For Additional Information on KIMOTION please visit http://www.kimotion.org.