Drum maestro Akira Tana has performed with many of the top names in the jazz world. His latest Ai San San ( Loves Radiance), is the third with his group, Otonowa. The group was founded in 2012 to tour and raise funds for the communities devasted by the earthquake and tsumani that struck Japan in 2011. The project pays homage to the victims of the natural disaster by presenting traditional and pop Japanese songs that Tana and Otonowa completely transform into modern American jazz instrumentals. Some of the tunes have been part of Japanese culture for generations and even the pop tunes would be familiar to a majority of Japanese people. The Otonowa musicians are a unique blend of Americans of Japanese decent, and the seamless blending of these disparate art forms is a testament to the cross cultural mastery of these musicians and to the adaptive and inclusive nature of jazz.
Although, other artists have brought Asian sensibilities to American jazz songs, Ai San San is unique in transforming Japanese songs into the modern jazz idiom. Akira Tana and Otonowa are the rare artists with the musical chops and cultural sensitivity that can pull off a project with such depth and beauty.
The evening also includes a twenty min. video about the Otonowa project and a Q & A after the concert.
Akira Tana-drums/Japnese fan drums
Masaru Koga– Tenor and soprano saxophone, Shakuhachi and Flute
Ben Stolorow– PIano
Ken Okada-bass
Special guest
Jimi Nakagawa, Taiko Master
$35 – $75
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THE 222 – Healdsburg
222 Healdsburg Avenue
- Healdsburg