Results for "Tokyo"

Ayako Kanda

Low as an echo in a tunnel, then light as a child's conversation; chasing the band one moment, and ringing out wild and alone the next: Ayako's vocal performances encompass a kaleidoscopic range of expression. Steeped in music from childhood, Ayako went from piano and solfege lessons in a junior conservatory-track program to performing in everything from choral societies to the euphonium section of her local youth brass band. In junior high school she joined the drama club, where she was active both behind the scenes as a scriptwriter and on stage in award-winning lead performances. By high school she was regularly performing with college clubs and troupes, and it was here that she discovered the possibility of live, on-stage improvisation. Confounding the expectations of friends and family, after graduation Ayako went to art school instead of attending a conservatory

Steve Sacks

Born: October 17, 1953

Saxophonist, flutist, composer and arranger Steve Sacks conveys a message of hope and peace through jazz which transcends the boundaries of genre. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1953, he grew up in Chicago and Connecticut. He began learning piano at age 7, and saxophone from age 13. After graduating Harvard with a B.A. summa cum laude in musicology, Steve moved to Paris for two years, then to New York City, where for twenty years he was active on the jazz, Brazilian, and Latin American musical scenes. He subsequently moved to Hong Kong for two years, and has lived in Tokyo, Japan since 1999. Steve has recorded on over 100 albums, including four as a leader of the New York-based Brazilian jazz groups "Guanabara" and "Trilogia"

|˟˟|

|˟˟| (pronounce 'gate') is a Tokyo-based Dutch-Japanese noise/jazz project.
The project was started by Lajos in june 2009 as an experiment in solo improvisation on multiple instruments simultaneously, some of which were built (or adapted) especially for this project. In November 2009, Taka joined the project.
|˟˟|'s music is somewhere in between free jazz (or free music) and noise, with important influences from industrial, drone, and Japanese and other traditional music. All music is the product of free improvisation without scores, plans, predetermined ideas, or second takes. All sessions are recorded as single track (usually mono) MP3 files, and except for some fade-in and/or fade-out, no changes are made in post production.

Lajos Ishibashi-Brons: 7-string bass, guitar, sousen, zarazara, crank-in-a-box, various other effects and noise makers, and vocals.
Takahito Hayashi: soprano sax, soprano and sopranino recorders, ryuuteki (dragon flute), flute, didgeridoo, various other wind instruments, percussion, and vocals.

All releases can be listened to at Bandcamp: http://gate.bandcamp.com/

Lajos Ishibashi-Brons

Born: September 12, 1972

Lajos Ishibashi-Brons was born in the Netherlands in the early 1970s, but moved to Tokyo, Japan in 2008. He has been making music since the 1980s, but rarely professionally. Most of his projects mix(ed) influences from jazz, noise, drone, traditional Asian music, and various other genres. His current main project is |˟˟| (pronounce 'gate'), originally an experiment in solo improvisation on multiple instruments simultaneously, but since late 2009 a duo with a wood wind player as the second member.

Michiyo Yagi

Born: November 21

Michiyo Yagi studied koto under the late Tadao Sawai, Kazue SawaiandSatomi Kurauchi, andgraduated from the NHK Professional Training School for TraditionalMusicians. Between 1989 and1990 she was Visiting Professor of Music at Wesleyan University inConnecticut, U.S.A. During hertenure she premiered numerous modern compositions for koto andcameunder the influence ofmaverick American composers such as John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow,andJohn Zorn.

Her solo koto CD "Shizuku" was produced by Zorn and released on theTzadik label in 1999. In 2001she recorded "Yural" with her koto ensemble Paulownia Crush for theEastWorks label. Under theauspices of the Japan Foundation, Michiyo toured Russia withPaulowniaCrush in the fall of 2004.Subsequent CD releases include "Seventeen" (Zipangu, 2005), entirelyrecorded on the giant 17-stringbass koto, and "Live! at SuperDeluxe" (Idiolect/Bomba, 2006), a trioperformance with bassistIngebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. A studiorecordingwith Dresser andRothenberg, a duo album with Sharp, a “Nordic” session with EivindAarsetand Raymond Pellicer, andlive recordings of the touring trio Brötzmann/Yagi/Nilssen-Love areforthcoming. An eclecticperformer who continually challenges conventions, Michiyo has madefrequent appearances onJapanese TV and has performed at the Kongsberg Jazz, Moers Jazz,Punkt,Musique ActuelVictoriaville, Archipel, Bang on a Can, Tokyo Summer, and VisionFestivals.

Charito*

Born: June 15

Recognized as one of the most individual and creative jazz vocalists in today's Japan jazz circuit. Acclaimed by critics, musicians and audiences as one of the most powerful and talented artists, she has definitely notched a place for herself in Japan's exclusive music world, and is now gaining note abroad. She has ten albums released with most recordings done in US, Canada and Brazil. Her highly personal and expressive vocal style incorporates the breadth of her musical interests, from straight-ahead soulful ballads to hard-swinging grooves and improvisational adventures. Her approach is fresh and invigorating, paying tribute to the jazz tradition while interacting and exploring, always seeking to express herself in the moment. In Ms

Jim Murray

Born: July 24, 1965

At age 8, Jim Murray's interest in Jazz music was ignited when he heard a record of Vince Guaraldi's "Charlie Brown Christmas". He began studying piano at age eight and upright bass later in Jr. high school. During high school he began performing in local restaurants, clubs, and special music events around his hometown, Grand Junction, Colorado. His early influences on piano are Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Erroll Garner, Monk, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. After high school, Jim's move to the American east coast in 1984 proved to be an invaluable experience as he met and learned from such piano legends as Ellis Marsalis and Dave McKenna. Since moving to Japan in 2001, Jim Murray has been a regular performer around the Tokyo/Yokohama jazz scene and has toured Japan extensively with some of Japan's top jazz artists.

Rodrigo Rodriguez

Born: August 29, 1978

Born in Argentina (1978). Rodriguez arrived to Spain in 1986, where he spent most of his childhood. At an early age, he began to study modern and classical music. Between the years of 1993-1999, Rodrigo tutored at home enrolled with several teachers of classical guitar until he was 22 years old. Rodrigo's professional music career began in Spain. It was there that he discovered his first asian instrument the Shakuhachi flute. Fascinated by Japanese music, he travelled to Japan several times to enhance his knowledge. He studied classical and traditional Japanese music under the lineages of Katsuya Yokoyama with the Master Kakizakai Kaoru in the International Shakuhachi Kenshu-kan School

Charito

Born: June 15

Distinctively a most prominent jazz vocalist in Japan with multi-awarded albums recorded and released internationally, Charito's artistry continues to establish its global presence with her recent and forthcoming tours in Europe, Asia, North and Latin America. Her highly personal and expressive vocal style incorporates the breadth of her musical interests, from straight-ahead soulful ballads to hard-swinging grooves and improvisational adventures. Her approach is fresh and invigorating, paying tribute to the jazz tradition while interacting and exploring, always seeking to express herself in the moment. In Ms. Nancy Wilson's words, "The first time I heard Charito, I physically and emotionally embraced her and thought myself BEAUTIFUL, that came from the heart and the soul. She has a warm way of presenting a song and she represents what a singer really is, a song stylist." This Girl (1990)

Isao Suzuki

Born: January 2, 1933

Isao Suzuki Isao Suzuki is the grand master of jazz in Japan. He is a bassist, multi instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer, and bandleader. He was born on January 3, 1933 in Tokyo. When he was a college student back in December 1953 he went to see Louis Armstrong All Stars in Tokyo. Milt Hinton, the best player ever, 43 at the time, was playing. Luckily Isao could see him playing from the front seat, and he was totally taken aback by Milt’s bass. When Milt said, “I pick and you clap,” and played solo bass very casually for 15 minutes, Isao was so moved by the sound that he couldn’t stop crying