#Keita Ogawa

[nonesuchrecords]

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs 12th-century trobairitz (female troubadour) Almucs de Castelneau's "Dame Iseut," from her Grammy-nominated new album, Mélusine, accompanied by Sullivan Fortner on harpsichord and Keita Ogawa on percussion, in the Unicorn Tapestries Room at The Met Cloisters in a new video out now as part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s performance series, MetLiveArts. This is the third of three performances Salvant filmed in the Met’s Unicorn Tapestry galleries of songs from the album.

[jazzandother-blog]

TAKUYA KURODA - Midnight Crisp listen here

(English / Español)

Midnight Crisp (2022) is Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda's seventh album as a leader, which he has had to produce himself.

The result of this album is, in my opinion, their best to date, and 'Fly Moon Die Soon', their previous album, released in 2020, set the bar very high.

One conclusion can be drawn from this; Takuya Kuroda is one of the best jazz trumpet players on the jazz scene right now.

Midnight Crisp', consisting of six tracks, all originals by the Japanese but New York-based trumpeter, is an album that features an elegant hybridisation of soulful jazz, funk, post-bop, fusion and hip hop.

Of the six tracks that make up this album, it is worth highlighting 'Time coil', which shows evident influences of Afrobeat and Fela Kuti, all of this together with funky keyboards from the best period of the seventies, but neither should we underestimate 'Dead end dance', the most heterodox piece on the album as a whole.

For this project Kuroda has surrounded himself with old acquaintances who worked with him on 'Fly Moon Die Soon', such as trombonist Corey King who also provides vocals on 'Choy soda', the album's closing track, tenor player Craig Hill, bassist Rashaan Carter, keyboardist Takahiro Izumikawa, percussionist Keita Ogawa and drummer Adam Jackson. They are joined by Japanese guitarist Ryo Ogihara.

Although Takuya Kuroda displays a surprising creative vitality (he has seven albums in twelve years), this trumpeter became known thanks to his participation in the albums 'Blackmagic' and 'No Beginning No End' by singer José James.

The 32 minutes that 'Midnight Crisp' lasts are short and one is left with the desire to continue listening to more music by this man who, for sure, will continue to give us great moments of this jazz we love.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Midnight Crisp (2022) es el séptimo disco como líder del trompetista japonés Takuya Kuroda y que ha tenido que autoproducirse.

El resultado de este disco es, a mi entender, el mejor hasta la fecha, y eso que ‘Fly Moon Die Soon’, su anterior disco, editado en 2020, dejó el listón muy alto.

De esto se puede sacar una conclusión; Takuya Kuroda es uno de los mejores trompetistas de jazz que hay ahora mismo en la escena jazzera.

‘Midnight Crisp’, compuesto por seis temas todos ellos originales del trompetista japonés aunque residente en Nueva York, es un disco en el que se puede escuchar una elegante hibridación de jazz soulful, funk, post-bop, fusión y hip hop.

De los seis temas que componen este álbum merece la pena destacar ‘Time coil’, que muestra unas evidentes influencias del afrobeat y de Fela Kuti, todo ello unido a unos teclados funky de la mejor etapa de los setenta, pero tampoco hay que desmerecer ‘Dead end dance’, la pieza más heterodoxa en el conjunto del disco.

Para sacar adelante este proyecto Kuroda se ha rodeado de viejos conocidos que trabajaron con él en ‘Fly Moon Die Soon’, como son el trombonista Corey King quien también pone la voz en ‘Choy soda’ el tema que cierra el álbum, el tenorista Craig Hill, el bajista Rashaan Carter, el teclista Takahiro Izumikawa, el percusionista Keita Ogawa y el baterista Adam Jackson. A todos ellos se les ha unido el guitarrista japonés Ryo Ogihara.

Aunque Takuya Kuroda despliega una vitalidad creativa sorprendente (lleva siete discos en doce años), este trompetista empezó a ser conocido gracias a su participación en los discos ‘Blackmagic’ y ‘No Beginning No End’ del cantante José James.

Los 32 minutos que dura ‘Midnight Crisp’ se hacen cortos y uno se queda con ganas de seguir escuchando más música de este hombre que, seguro, nos va a seguir dando grandes momentos de este jazz que nos gusta.

Fuente: DistritoJazz

[yasutomoe]

Full Metal Alchemist The Stage [dl]

Cast: Isshiki Yohei : Edward Elric (double cast) Hirono Ryota : Edward Elric (double cast) Mashima Shuto : Alphonse Elric Okabe Rin : Winry Rockbell Aoki Jin : Roy Mustang (double cast) Wada Takuma : Roy Mustang (double cast) Tsukui Minami : Riza Hawkeye Metal Yoshida : Alex Louis Armstrong Okamoto Yuki : Maes Hughes Kimisawa Yuki : Jean Havoc Harashima Motohisa : Denny Brosh Mizuki Sakurako : Maria Ross Abe Yutaka : Tim Marco Oishi Keita : Shou Tucker Ono Hikari : Izumi Curtis Sao Kurama : Lust Hiramatsu Raima : Envy Kusano Taisei : Gluttony Hoshi Tomoya : Scar Suzuki Shogo : Solf J. Kimblee Kuge Megumi : Pinako Rockbell Saito Mizuki : Gracia Hughes Ogawa Himari : Nina Tucker (double cast) Shiribiki Yuika : Nina Tucker (double cast) Tatsumi Takuro : King Bradley Sakurada Kosei : Alphonse Elric (suit actor)

✨🦾✨

hello, 2.5D community! this would be my first time sharing my copy of a blu ray purchase so i hope i ripped the files properly. i haven't checked them due to my very packed schedule, so please message me if there are any problems.

here is the link to the files for both disc 1 (hirono ryo as edward elric, wada takuma as roy mustang) and disc 2 (isshiki yohei as edward elric, aoki jin as roy mustang). i might remove the link on this post after a while so please save it asap.

then as for the rules, just like the others, please do not upload on streaming sites.

enjoy the stage play!

[rich4a1]

Jihye Lee Orchestra INFINITE CONNECTIONS

JIHYE LEE ORCHESTRA INFINITE CONNECTIONS Motema Music Jihye Lee, composer/conductor; Adam Birnbaum, piano; Matt Clohesy, bass; Jared Schonig, drums; Keita Ogawa, percussion; Alex Goodman, guitar; Ben Kono, alto saxophone/piccolo/flute; Dave Pietro, alto saxophone/flute/alto flute; Jason Rigby & Jonathan Lawary, tenor saxophone/flute/clarinet; Carl Maraghi, baritone saxophone/bass clarinet; Brian…

[thebaddestbears]

Timothy Cobb, Christmas Stories Christian Sands mack avenue, 2023

Pianist/composer Christian Sands' cinematic approach to popular holiday classics takes center stage with Christmas Stories, his first album since his critically acclaimed, GRAMMY-nominated 2020 release Be Water. Having performed in-demand Christmas shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center and around the world, Sands offers such classics as "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," as well as a few surprises. Joining the NAACP Image Award nominee are vibraphonist Stefon Harris, saxophonist Jimmy Greene, guitarists Max Light and Marvin Sewell, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, percussionist Keita Ogawa, and drummer Ryan Sands.　Amazon

[jpf-sydney]

Monkey business

New item:

Shelf: 905 MON A7 Monkey business. Volume 7 : new writing from Japan. editors Ted Goossen, Motoyuki Shibata.

Brooklyn, N.Y. : Public Space Literary Projects, 2017. ISBN: 9780997248029

235 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Text in English. Majority of the works are translated into English from the Japanese.

Table of contents:

Oracles and miracles / three tales by Hideo Furukawa ; translated by David Boyd

The magician / a short story by Masatsugu Ono ; translated by Taki Monma ; translated by Ted Goossen

Aliceland / poems in prose by Makoto Takayanagi ; translated by Michael Emmerich

Evil flourishes but Itō encounters jizō in broad daylight / a chapter from a novel by Hiromi Itō ; translated by Jeffrey Angles

Our bathrooms and the great sea / a short story by Keita Jin ; translated by Paul Warham

Some animals and their housing situations / a short story by Helen Guri

On writing short stories / Haruki Murakami in conversation with Motoyuki Shibata ; translated by Ted Goossen

Shuffle drive / travels between galaxies by Toh EnJoe ; translated by David Boyd

Mr. Quote / a graphic narrative by Satoshi Kitamura

Seals / a short story by Andrew Cowan

A peddler of tears / a short story by Yoko Ogawa ; translated by Sam Bett

Peter and Janis / a short story by Tomoka Shibasaki ; translated by Christopher Lowy

Private tour / a companion piece to Mess, a memoir by Barry Yourgrau

Am I a doctor? / a short story by Aoko Matsuda ; translated by Jeffrey Angles

The Carlyle Museum / a short story by Sōseki Natsume ; translated by Michael K. Bourdaghs

Hands, squares, chimeny sweeps / three reports by Brian Evenson

The daydream / a short story by Rampo Edogawa ; translated by Ted Goossen

People from my neighborhood (the final installment) / vignettes by Hiromi Kawakami ; translated by Ted Goossen

The elevator and the moon / a short story by Shin'ichi Makino ; translated by David Boyd

Continental drift / a short story by Kevin Brockmeier

Extra innings / a short story by Hiroko Oyamada

Behind the prison / a short story by Kafū Nagai ; translated by Jay Rubin

War bride / a poem in prose by Mieko Kawakami ; translated by Hitomi Yoshio

The forbidden diary (the last entries) / excerpts from a fictional diary by Sachiko Kishimoto

[tsuchiyar]

CITIZEN Eco-Drive 365

シチズンが発表した新製品のひとつ、Eco-Drive 365の製品ティザーページのコンセプト設計とコピーライティングを担当しました。

タイムレスな外観に、少ない光でも365日動き続ける最新の光発電ムーブメントを備えた製品。その温故知新とも言える精神性を製品の特長とオーバーラップさせながら、期待感を込めて語りました。

-- 挑戦はいつでも 今に満足しないことから始まる。

過去に未来の種を見つけるように。

探究心は わずかな光をもつかみ 糧にして 前進する力の源だ。

明日を切り拓く精神がここに。 --

https://citizen.jp/Eco-Drive365/special/index.html

Art director: Yokota Yasuto Conceptor / Copywriter: Tsuchiya Ryoko Photographer : Ogawa Masaki Material researcher : Akiyama Keita (Fushigi design) , Kohide Tsubasa Engineer: Yamanaka Tomohiro Producer: Nagakura Masanobu (Tangram)

[diyeipetea]

Cécile McLorin Salvant (34ème Jazzèbre / L’Archipel, Perpignan -France-. 2022-10-09) [II/VII] Por Joan Cortès [INSTANTZZ]

Cécile McLorin Salvant (34ème Jazzèbre / L’Archipel, Perpignan -France-. 2022-10-09) [II/VII] Por Joan Cortès [INSTANTZZ]

Festival Jazzèbre 2022 Fecha: domingo, 09 de octubre de 2022 Lugar: L’Archipiel, Salle Le Grenat (Perpignan -France-) Grupo: Cécile McLorin Salvant Cécile McLorin Salvant, voz Glen Zaleski, piano Marwin Sewell, guitarras Paul Sikivie, contrabajo Keita Ogawa, batería   Tomajazz: © Joan Cortès, 2022 Más información acerca de Cécile McLorin…

[waitmyturtles]

(TW/CW: violence against trans individuals)

TL;DR: The 2018 NHK dorama Life as a Girl totally moved me. I did not expect to be so moved and thrown by this short series about a transgender woman in Kobe. If you’re into rabbitholes involving either Shison Jun or Machida Keita, this is a MUST WATCH. LONG POST!

I wrote last week that in my Machida Keita rabbithole, I discovered through the Tumblr algorithm a 2018 drama that he co-starred in called Life as a Girl, playing the bumbling roommate of a transgender woman named Ogawa Miki (played by an unbelievable Shison Jun).

Like I wrote previously, I’m deeply impressed that NHK produced this show -- NHK has these edgy tendencies that they don’t let run REALLY deep, like TV Tokyo does with its late-night programming. But I think that NHK leverages its huge influence over Japanese television by delicately introducing topics of mental and physical health and acceptance through short bursts of creative dorama content, and getting just unbelievable actors to carry the topics through (doramas that come to mind include To Heal Wounds of the Heart, with the AMAZING Emoto Tasuku as a psychiatrist who treats clients after the 1995 Kobe earthquake; and Hoshi to Lemon no Heya, which focuses on hikikomori culture, and stars Kaho and Miyazawa Hio, who both just ate their roles). 

Life as a Girl establishes at the start that Miki has been living a confident life as a woman for a few years by the time we meet her. She is working in fashion, in a workplace that totally accepts her, and her immediate community -- her croquette vendors, the aquarium she visits after work -- all love and care for her. 

But Goto (Machida), a high school classmate looking for Ogawa Mikio, Miki’s previous identity, bumbles into her life after falling into debt and needing a place to live. The risks are obviously high for Miki -- she has no way of knowing how Goto will take and understand her transition since the school days, and even after she welcomes him into her home, he takes a few minutes to realize that Mikio has become Miki, and IS Miki, through and through. 

The show focuses on a few immediate themes, with more cropping up later on: 

1) That while Miki is confident on the outside, she is insecure and shaky about her immediate existence and future as a lesbian, particularly as she as not had any surgery at the moment we meet her

2) That with Goto in her life as her roommate, that she will have to experience cishet male culture again, and she notes how this affects her and her behavior

3) That Goto’s presence means that people from her past life as a boy/man will learn about the transition and have their own reactions (which episode two focuses on)

4) That Goto’s presence also makes her realize and reflect on her family’s acceptance, or lack thereof, of her identity

5) That her attraction to women forces her to confront that no matter what, even as a woman herself, she will not find the assumed societal stability that a non-lesbian in Japan would find in marriage with a man

6) That if she gets into a relationship with a het woman, that that het woman may end up leaving her to go into marriage in the end, which (spoilers) ends up happening with a woman that Miki dates in the short series

7) And finally, while this is not OVERTLY stated, it is somewhat implied in episode three, when Miki is briefly attacked by her cishet older brother, that transgender individuals are more at risk for attacks and homicides than cishet individuals.

Before I go on with my analysis of the show, I want to say that my first introduction to a viewpoint into transgender identities in Japan was through the 1993 translation of Banana Yoshimoto’s novel, “Kitchen,” first written in 1988. I didn’t read it until I was much older, already a teenager, so that was the late 1990s/early 2000s (yes, I am old, so old), in which the mother of one of the lead characters was previously his father, and this mother is murdered in a transgender club. 

The way in which transgender identities are treated in “Kitchen” are somewhat reminiscent of how I felt gay identities and culture were treated in the drama version of KinnPorsche by Kinn’s father, Korn, in that -- no huge deal was made about the decision that the co-lead character’s mother made to become a woman. The main character of the novel -- a young woman who has lost her entire family -- regards the mother as the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. And the culture in which the lead character is introduced to is treated quietly, with no reactions recorded at all, and acceptance being a given. It is simply accepted as a way of life in big cities in Japan, one way of life of millions being lived in the city everyday. And most importantly, the transgender individuals are only initially regarded as such -- and by the time their stories are fully told, they are family figures, and never outed again as “transgender” by the author. 

While “Kitchen,” I think, began to establish a line of acceptance for transgender identities and culture in Japanese art (and I am obviously missing plenty of works that certainly cropped up between 1988 and 2018), Life as a Girl allows us to dive specifically into the focus of a transgender woman ACTIVELY living the life that she has chosen, with her small chosen family around her. Miki keeps a blog, and her internal communication to herself is often peppered with pop-up hashtags of what she’s witnessing and summarizing about the world around her. We see the hashtags, many times in rapid-fire fashion, as she analyzes what’s happening around her and as she reads the people around her.

And she’s a master at reading people. When Goto literally bumbles into her life in episode one, Miki knows that it’s just a matter of time before Goto catches on that Miki was Mikio -- and he catches on, and is startled. But Miki’s coolness, her acceptance of Goto’s confusion, her watching him through his process -- she already knows almost all of what Goto will go through to realize that his schoolmate is no longer a man.

What catches and turns Miki, though, about Goto throughout the series, is that Goto only exists on a sincere level (he’s bumbling and foolish and kind of dopey, and VERY cishet -- but he’s deeply caring, and shows it). Slowly over the course of the four episodes, Goto sees the discrimination that Miki faces, and begins to develop a defense of how Miki lives her life -- which we see coming in full circle in the last episode of the series, when Miki is heavily discriminated against by a rich cishet male, and Goto stands up to him loudly and firmly. Miki runs away at that moment -- her coolness can’t tolerate the sheer sincerity of Goto’s loud defense and emotion in defending his friend and her decisions. 

We also see it in episode three, where by chance, Miki is sent to her hometown for a work assignment. While waiting for the train back to Kobe, Goto appears on the platform. Miki is in wonder -- why would Goto, of all people, be here? And Goto implicitly indicates -- it’s because he needed to be here for his friend, who may encounter unpleasantries while in her hometown. (More on this scenario in a moment.)

The way in which we learn a lot about Miki and her ability to survive the world around her is through the ways in which she attends goukon, or group blind dates, of which there are a number throughout the series. Not everyone at the goukons knows that Miki is transgender. But, Miki sets her sights and targets on the women in the group, automatically turning the tables on the socially implied nature of the setting that girls get with guys and vice versa. It’s at a goukon where Miki meets her girlfriend of the series, a young woman with a boyfriend in her country hometown, who is assumed to be with Miki in part because Miki has not transitioned surgically yet. 

At these goukons, Miki is fully engaged in her coolness about the people around her -- how they’ll behave, how simple cishet men are, how the women she’s attracted to will react when they are approached by Miki. 

But what I love about this show is that the foil from the goukons to her co-living existence with Goto forces Miki to face a deeper level of emotion about herself and what it means to be transgender in Japan. Goto’s quiet transformation to a devoted and ACCEPTING friend surprises Miki, and clearly surprises her throughout the show. It’s such a lovely, revealing reflection against the many, many, many defense mechanisms Miki has had to put up in order to survive. 

The other best example of Miki’s coolness colliding with sincerity from others was in episode two, when the bumbling Goto mistakenly invites another high school classmate (Mini-san) to visit Kobe and stay with them. Mini-san’s real intention to come to Kobe was not to relieve his depression, as he told Goto -- it was to find out if Miki, previously Mikio, was a monster (and the subs literally translate this concept as “monster”).

Miki knows what’s up. She already knows the discrimination that she’ll face from Mini-san. And she lets it go through its process, all while Goto is taken aback at Mini-san’s disgusting behavior. Finally, Miki makes her cutting diagnosis of the situation: she reveals that Mini-san is actually interested in cross-dressing, and aids him through his experimentations. This throws Goto -- and demonstrates to Goto that Miki’s warm heart is one that needs investing in.

Finally, the show deals with family acceptance. When Goto appeared on the train platform to accompany Miki home after her first visit to their hometown, I was deeply moved -- and that was before the appearance of Miki’s father and older brother, an older brother who was shown in flashbacks to have tormented the former Mikio as a young man for cross-dressing. 

I have to make a long post longer by processing the family scenes, because I thought it was deeply interesting in how Goto served as a go-between for Miki and her father, to help bring her father to a place of acceptance for Miki’s life. The father is initially presented as being surprised to see his former son as a woman, obviously, and the conversation is light at best -- but it’s clear that Miki’s father is relieved to see Miki healthy.

And Goto, in talking about Miki and their arrangement as roommates (which confuses the hell out of a lot of people, and I wish Goto had just used the word “roommates,” lord, but bumbly Goto didn’t ever do that), misgendered Miki’s pronouns to her father to talk about Miki. 

So as a progressive -- of course that made me wince. But as an Asian, with Asian parents -- I see why the writers had Goto do this. There is no way in living hell that my own parents could ever understand the culture around using correct pronouns. Their concept of reality is only focused on their understanding of their world around them. If a boy was born as a boy, that boy will always be a boy. My parents don’t have the cultural insight, leverage, or conceptual fortitude to understand anything else -- both in their refusal to understand different concepts, but also in the ways in which they’ve lived their simple lives over their lifetimes.

I believe the writers of the show had Goto click into that mindset. Goto was really Miki’s go-between at that moment -- a translator of sorts, from a cishet male to a cishet male, with Goto serving as the image of someone who had worked on gaining understanding and acceptance for who Miki was and how she lived her life.

That demonstration, in front of a family member who could have very well rejected Miki, was AMAZING to watch. And the appearance of Miki’s older brother, who bolted in with his discrimination in the process, judging Miki, attacking her, and railing on her appearance, was also a necessary foil to the moment. Goto stands up to the brother, and Miki also fights back, voraciously and vocally, stating with confidence -- I am a woman, I love fashion, and I have chosen the life I want to lead. 

And Miki’s father accepts it. At the end of the scene, he stands and accepts his daughter, calling her Miki. It was VERY reminiscent of the incredible scenes of acceptance at the end of the movie “His,” with Miyazawa Hio and Fujiwara Kisetsu, when older members of their small town vocally demonstrate their acceptance of a gay couple in their town. 

I think the show ended on a touch of a wiggly note, showing Miki continuing to live her life in kind of a more fun way than we had previously seen, and I think the show certainly could have gone down a more sickly-sweet sentimental route, considering this was on nationally broadcast Japanese television. But that’s a minor quibble. We need to see more transgender actors in roles, but I don’t think they could have cast this better. Shison Jun was absolutely SPECTACULAR as Miki, and he’s my new rabbithole; while Machida Keita ate his role as Goto, and for me, played the first cishet role I’ve been truly happy to see him in. He was cast and USED perfectly to set up how hilarious many cishet male behaviors are, and demonstrated a lot of what Miki left behind, culturally, when she became a woman. 

WHEW. This show tore me apart. I’m keeping it close, and not only for the Machida rabbithole (which, lord help me, will jack back up when I get the Cherry Magic DVD in mere days). Life as a Girl is a MUST WATCH, and I am definitely going to rabbithole more into transgender-focused content from Japan in the coming months. 

[mandilo]

舞台『鋼の錬金術師』 Full Metal Alchemist The Stage

The main visual and public conference has given is dates double cas and visuals for the fullmetal adaptation on stage

The stage will run in Osaka and Tokyo in march with a double cast

Osaka run : 2023年3月8日～3月12日 Tokyo run ：2023年3月17日～3月26日

Cast :

Edward Elric : Isshiki Yohei/Hirono Ryota Alphonse Elric : Mashima Shuto (suit actor Kosei sakurada) Winry Rockbell : Rin Okabe Roy Mustang : Aoki Jin/ Wada Takuma Riza hawkeye : Tsukui Minami Alex Louis Amstrong : Metal Yoshida Maes Hughes : Yuki Okamoto Jean Havoc : Kimisawa Yuki Denis Brosh : Harashima Motohisa Maria Rose : Mizuki Sakurako Tim marco : Abe Yukata Shou Tucker : Oishi Keita Izumi Curtis : Ono Hikari Lust : Sao Kurama Envy : Hiramatsu Raima Glutony : Kusano Taisei Scar : Hoshi Tomoya Suzuki Shogo : Zolf J Kimblee Pinaco Rockbell : Kuge Megumi Gracia Hughes : Saito Mizuki Nina Tucker : Ogawa Himari/Shiribiki Yuika King Bradley : Tatsumi Takuro

Official site

natalie : (X)

Released videos : (X)

[nonesuchrecords]

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs “Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying,” from her Grammy-nominated album Ghost Song, live at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York this past spring, with Sullivan Fortner on piano, Keita Ogawa on percussion, Marvin Sewell on guitar, Alexa Tarantino  on flute, and Yasushi Nakamura on bass. The songs were written by Harold Arlen/Herbert Stothart/Yip Harburg and Gregory Porter, respectively. 

[dustedmagazine]

Cécile McLorin Salvant — Ghost Song (Nonesuch)

Photo by Shawn Michael Jones

Cécile McLorin Salvant is one of jazz’s big, upcoming vocal talents, a winner of the 2015 Grammy for best jazz vocal and, most recently, of a MacArthur genius grant. Wynton Marsalis, who has brought Salvant on tour with his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, told the New Yorker in 2017, “You get a singer like this once in a generation or two.” And, indeed, Salvant has a striking, versatile voice, navigating quick-paced 1930s movie riffs, sophisticated torch songs and spare folk laments with equal aplomb. 

 It is, perhaps, telling that she leads off this album of covers and originals with her own version of Kate Bush’s haunted 1978 single “Wuthering Heights” (see the original here, Bush’s very first release, performed with conviction in full interpretive dance mode). Singing unaccompanied for the first two-thirds of the song, she swoops and soars and echoes, untethered but absolutely on target. If she has to work at all at its unconventional melody, there’s no sign of it, no grit or breath or struggle. And yet, the song is hardly sterile. There’s a lot of passion in it, too, despite its technical sheen and gloss. All of which is to say that Salvant is an exceptional singer, absolutely suited to the jazz repertoire but unwilling to be contained by it. The world, and music, is too big to stay in one corner, however worthy. 

It’s easy here to get swept up in the quality and variety of the covers. After “Wuthering Heights,” Salvant mashes up the Disney ditty “Optimistic Voices” with Gregory Porter’s majestic “No Love Dying.” Later in the album, you’ll find an interpretation of “The World Is Mean,” from “Threepenny Opera,” its arrangement alternating between breezy, flute-blowing, snare rattling optimism and soulful realism, and the album closes with “Unquiet Grave,” a keening Celtic dirge that falls about a far from jazz as folk can. Salvant brings all these very different songs to life with unfailing clarity. Her lovely, preternaturally accurate soprano nails the details, while allowing her own intelligence and style to show through in subtle shifts of phrasing and modest flourishes. 

The revelation, however, comes in Salvant’s original material, especially the title track, which brings the warmth of blues into its slippery, sinuous melody, its thumping rhythm, its tremulous guitar slides. The other musicians are low-key excellent, here and elsewhere, Salvant’s longtime collaborator Sullivan Fortner on piano, Burniss Travis on acoustic bass, Marvin Sewell on guitars and Keita Ogawa on percussion instruments. Salvant starts the song alone but picks up choral accompaniment as the piece goes on, finally turning her lovely melody over to the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. 

Salvant shows off a sharp wit in the talk-sung, “Obligation,” a fluid sophistication on “If I Lost My Mind,” and a little bit of swagger on the brief, piano-pounding “Trail Mix.” Her original songs are as varied as the covers. But the thread that runs through is that exceptionally clear, artful delivery and a nimble intelligence. Whatever the setting, the mood or the genre, Salvant lights it up from within.

Jennifer Kelly

[chez-mimich]

TAKUYA KURODA, “FLY MOON DIE MOON”

Takuya Kuroda è un trombettista giapponese di Kobe che ha studiato jazz alla “New School” di Union Square a New York City, uno spirito inquieto e un ricercatore musicale dinamico e curioso, attratto non solo dalla musica in senso stretto, ma dall’intero universo sonoro e questo suo nuovo album, “Fly Moon Die Soon”, non fa che confermarlo. Non è una novità che il jazz sia divenuto una genere musicale senza una precisa codifica, e le famose "contaminazioni" lo hanno portato su una strada che, se non è difficile seguire da un punto di vista sonoro, è certamente molto più arduo sul piano linguistico. Termini come "hard-bop", "groovy classico" o "funk e hip hop contemporanei", significano ormai poco e risultano essere più etichette di comodo che non descrizioni plausibili di ciò che si va ad ascoltare. Nell'ottica della catalogazione è evidente che è comunque il grande respiro groove a fare da collante ad una interessantissima serie di input musicali. Con questa convinzione mi metto spesso all'ascolto di un disco e così ho fatto con questo magnifico lavoro del musicista nipponico, che lui stesso definisce come un album che parla "dell'ironia tra la grandezza della natura e la bellissima oscenità dell'umanità". Parole suggestive e misteriose, ma che si possono facilmente corroborare dall'ascolto. Un modo di comporre non tradizionale che fa grande uso di ritmi, campionamenti, sovraincisioni e altre diavolerie elettroniche. Una belle truppa quella che ha lavorato a questo esperimento: insieme alla multiforme tromba di Takuya Kuroda ecco Corey King al trombone e voce, Craig Hill e Tomoaki Baba al sax tenore, Tekeshi Ohbayashi e Chris MCCarthy alle tastiere, Rashaan Carter, Todd Carter, Solomon Dorsey, Burniss Earl Travis e Yasushi Nakamura al basso, Adam Jackson e Zach Mullings alla batteria, Takahiro Izumikawa al piano Rhodes, Saotoshi Yoshida e Ryo Ogihara alla chitarra, Keita Ogawa alle percussioni, Manami Kakudo, Alina Engibarya e Paola Arcieri voce. Ma qual è l’ABC (titolo del secondo pezzo dell’album), della musica di Takuya Kuroda? Il ritmo e la sua variazione infinita? Non solo, perché non di solo groove è composto il suo lavoro, ma anche di una sapiente dissolvenza e trasmutazione di questo in qualcosa di diverso, sfumato, lievemente mutageno, anche grazie all’apporto della bella sezione vocale che dà prova di sé già nelle prime dissolvenze (“Fade” appunto) e non cessa di stupire fino a “Sweet Sticky Things”, un po’ jazz e un po’ groove, come si conviene. Molto particolare la gestazione di questo eccellente lavoro, come spiega lo stesso Kuroda: “... Tutto era basato sui miei ritmi che ho fatto a casa, invitando i musicisti uno per uno, aggiungendo o sostituendo parti. Sono stato molto attento nello sviluppare questi brani; solo nota per nota, parte per parte. Volevo fare la musica in modo efficace da una miscela di due diversi metodi di registrazione; una parte prodotta in modo molto agile e una parte molto organica suonata da musicisti dal vivo...” Queste parole possono dare l’impressione di qualcosa di molto costruito, ed infatti la musica di Takuya Kuroda è molto ben progettata ed altrettanto magistralmente costruita; in fondo anche Filippo Brunelleschi progettava nella bottega la sua imponente bellezza. Un colpo forse all’idea romantica e neo-romantica dell’estro e della sregolatezza. Cercare di “ammazzare il chiaro di luna”, almeno ogni tanto, è sempre una buona regola. Saper fare musica significa anche montare e smontare, assemblare, limare se occorre. Impegno notevole, risultato ottimo come si può giudicare solo dopo un ascolto attento.

[burlveneer-music]

Ajoyo - War Chant EP - 4-track preview of the next LP

Hailed for the vibrant eclecticism and socially conscious engagement of its eponymous 2015 debut, the spellbinding jazz- world ensemble AJOYO returns with War Chant. The four-track EP offers an enticing preview of the group’s full length sophomore release WAR CHANT, due out in early 2020. Alongside saxophonist/bandleader Yacine Boularès, War Chant features a deeply attuned working lineup with vocalist Sarah Elizabeth Charles, keyboardist/producer Jesse Fischer, bassist Kyle Miles, guitarist Michael Valeanu and drummer Philippe Lemm. Trumpeter Takuya Kuroda appears on “Assyko,” and Keita Ogawa and Foluso Mimy guest on percussion as well.

[larryland]

Banda Magda Plays The Passport Series: Music Haven at Proctors

Banda Magda Plays The Passport Series: Music Haven at Proctors

Straight from the Kennedy Center, Banda Magda is a one-night world music festival all its own, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, GE Theatre at Proctors 

Make an evening of The Passport Series: Music Haven at Proctors with a Winter Greek Buffet Preshow Dinner!

SCHENECTADY, N.Y.—Feb. 1, 2019—Samba. French chanson. Greek folk tunes. Colombian cumbia. Afro-Peruvian lando. 

It sounds like The Passport…