Jazz Articles about Akiko Tsuruga

Akiko Tsuruga Quintet at William Paterson University

by David A. Orthmann
August 1, 2020

Akiko Tsuruga Quintet Shea Center the the Performing Arts William Paterson University Summer Jazz Room at Home Wayne, NJ July 23, 2020 New York City area jazz venues have begun to make their first steps toward recovery through the vehicle of live streaming. While a band and audience sharing the same physical space and feeding off of each other's energy is an essential part of the live performance experience, for the foreseeable future ...

Akiko Tsuruga: So Cute, So Bad

by Dan Bilawsky
July 5, 2017

On more than one occasion I've sat back while listening to jazz organ giants of yore and thought to myself, “they don't make 'em like this anymore." And while it's true that one-of-a-kind greats like Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, Big John Patton, Brother Jack McDuff, Charles Earland, and Jimmy McGriff are gone for good, and nobody can duplicate exactly what they gave us, it's somewhat small-minded to ignore the fact that other talents are right in front of us, carrying ...

Akiko Tsuruga: Sweet and Funky

by C. Michael Bailey
June 14, 2007

Jazz organ has been passing through a long period of experimentation, where well-behaved organists with superior chops have been releasing lean and muscular jazz, all well-conceived and executed. This creative direction in organ-based jazz is a positive development, expanding the application of the B3 in the vocabulary of the music. The music can be succinctly defined as “low fat (read “no grease ).

Like a bull stock market, organ jazz sometimes requires a correction, a recalibration based on ...

Akiko Tsuruga: Sweet and Funky

by Budd Kopman
May 16, 2007

Get down, watch out and dig what pours forth from the Hammond B3 organ as played by Akiko Tsuruga. The possessor of a million dollar smile and a stage presence that makes one glad to be in the audience, Tsuruga is a killer player. Sweet and Funky is a pure mainstream release representing the organ trio tradition that is steeped in the blues and swings like crazy. Together with her band mates, guitarist Eric Johnson and drummer ...