Asian Improv aRts Midwest, the region's leading presenter of the Asian American cultural arts, is proud to present the 16th season of the critically acclaimed Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. The festival highlights the diversity of musicians that explore the Asian American experience though music, combining influences that include jazz, blues, rock, hip hop, improv/new music, and traditional Asian musical forms and instrumentation. Taking place during October 21-22, 2011 the AAJF will present national and Chicago-resident artists, a CD release celebration produced in partnership with the Chicago Cultural Center, a musician's showcase at Andy's Jazz Club, and a new venue, Elastic Arts Foundation.
Friday, October 21, 2011
9pm | $12 (Jazz Institute of Chicago members and students w/ ID receive a $2 discount)
As part of Elastic’s Intersections music series, featuring the music of the AACM and Asian Improv aRts Midwest
Aakash Mittal
Tatsu Aoki’s Shamisen Jazz Venture featuring Francis Wong
Arts Center
Logan Square-Avondale
2800 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Floor
Chicago IL 60618
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| Tatsu Aoki |
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| Jeff Chan's Clarinet Conglomerate |
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| Esther Hana |
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| Steve Hashimoto |
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| Aakash Mittal |
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| Yoko Noge and Japanesque |
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| Mai Sugimoto |
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| Gary Tu |
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| Francis Wong
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
2pm | FREE
Produced in partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture
A CD Release Celebration for the new album by
Jeff Chan’s Chicago Clarinet Conglomerate
Mwata Bowden, Jeff Chan and Ed Wilkerson – clarinets and Special Guest Tatsu Aoki – electronics
Claudia Cassidy Theater/Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington
Chicago, IL 60602
Saturday, October 22, 2011
5:30pm | $15
A Night of Music featuring Steve Hashimoto, Mai Sugimoto, Gary Tu, Esther Hana, Yoko Noge and Jeff Chan!
Andy’s Jazz Club
11 E. Hubbard
Chicago, IL 60611
ARTIST BIOS
www.jeffchanmusic.com
Chicago saxophonist/composer Jeff Chan is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the Asian American experience through music. He has worked with many of the leaders of the Asian American creative music movement, including saxophonist Francis Wong and bassist Tatsu Aoki as well as some of the top figures in the Chicago music scene such as saxophonists Jimmy Ellis, Mwata Bowden and Ed Wilkerson, trumpeter Ameen Muhammad, drummer Avreeayl Ra and pianist/bandleader Yoko Noge. A native of the California Bay Area, Chan made the move to Chicago in 2002 in order to be a part of the city’s rich musical culture. Critics have written that “… Chan has built a reputation as a formidable Chicago tenor saxophonist” (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, March 13, 2009) and that he is “… a voice to be reckoned with” (Brian Gilmore, JazzTimes, April 15, 2010). His latest recording, Horns of Plenty (Asian Improv Records 0077) has been praised as “some of the best improvised music I’ve heard this year” (Brad Walseth, www.chicagojazz.net, 2009).
STEVEN HASHIMOTO
www.myspace.com/hashimotojazzensembles
Steven Hashimoto has played music professionally in Chicago since 1969, and has played with hundreds of jazz, blues, rock, country, folk, Latin, World, avant-garde, pop, bluegrass, reggae, dance and spoken-word artists. He has led his Asian/World/Jazz fusion band Mothra since 1976 and his Latin-Jazz band Sueños since 1996. He is a sansei, born in Chicago.
AAKASH MITTAL
www.aakashmittal.com
Aakash Mittal is emerging as a fresh voice in the creative music scene. His latest self-released album, VIDESH, has been hailed as, "point[ing] toward new possibilities in improvised music." (The Denver Post) This stems from his approach to composition and improvisation, where Mittal is not held back by specific genres but draws inspiration from an eclectic mix of modern jazz, rock, Indian raga music, and field samples of our modern world to tell a story of the human experience.
Mittal has performed nationally at such venues as The Dakota (Minneapolis), The Cultural Center of Chicago, and Dazzle Jazz Club (Denver). Internationally, Mittal has performed in Kolkata, India, with world-renowned percussionist Pandit Tanmoy Bose as a part of "Taal Tantra" and with "Kendraka," an eclectic creative music ensemble. Aakash Mittal has also collaborated with PI Recordings artist Amir Elsaffar and avant-garde poet Bhanu Kapil. As a composer Mittal has written extensively for jazz quartet and was commissioned to write "Octet on Raga Yamen" for the Ethos West Chamber Orchestra. Mittal has self-released two recordings, "Possible Beginnings" and "Videsh," to rave reviews.
YOKO NOGE
www.yokonoge.com/
A key contributor to Chicago’s jazz and Asian American music communities, Yoko Noge has been acclaimed for her work that combines her Japanese roots with the sounds of Chicago. Yoko Noge's Japanesque fuses Japanese folk and Chicago blues music to create something that can only exist in the Windy City. So what does Japanese minyo (folk music) have in common with Chicago blues? Both musical forms are deeply rooted in people's souls and grew from their everyday life experience. Some songs are about hard labor, some are about crying for lost love, some are about paying the rent. You will be surprised to hear music from these two very different cultures meld together to create a new, cross-border root music.
MAI SUGIMOTO
Mai Sugimoto earned her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Northern Illinois , then received her Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. She has performed with artists such as John Clayton, Arturo Sandoval, Kenny Werner and The New Millenium Orchestra. In 2006, Mai placed second in the Sisters in Jazz International Collegiate Competition. Her playing on Chicago Palette (2010) which consisted of Union League Jazz Competition winners received great reviews - "Sugimoto is one of the more adventurous soloists in this group of outstanding improvisers and she plays a brief but angular and surprisingly mature solo..." - Chicagojazz.com. She currently resides in Chicago and is active as a performer and an educator.
GARY TU
www.garytu.com/
Gary Tu plays in a style that mixes the ethereal technique of Pat Metheny and the more muscular stylings of Wes Montgomery. His approach is spacious and bop-ish with fluid lines played with ease and confidence. There is a strong rhythmic push vying with the melodic themes, and a strong love of the guitar. He also has a clear, crisp tone, without any fusion or rock effects, and he's a fine one-note picker, adept at finding new melodies. And he swings.
ESTER HANA
www.esterhana.us.com/
The petite Ester has been singing and playing in the United States for over two decades now, in clubs, restaurants, cabarets, concerts and private parties. She holds a master's degree in music and piano performance from Roosevelt University. She has won international acclaim having performed in Berlin, Stockholm, Paris, Geneva, Monte Carlo, Toronto, Arezzo (Italy), Bangkok and Manila. She recently returned from Bangkok where she held a concert to benefit children of mothers with AIDS.
While maintaining her base in Chicago she has performed in New York, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Las Vegas, San Jose, Bethlehem, San Antonio, Michigan City and Minneapolis. Chicago's music lovers, politicians and businessmen flock to clubs or restaurants where she performs, including Sorriso, Yvette, Toulouse, Gable on Clark, Le Studio, Huckleberry's, Punchinello's and Europe at Night.
If you would like to find out more about the 16th Anniversary Chicago
Asian American Jazz Festival, AIRMW, share an idea or make a
donation, here is how to contact us:
Asian Improv aRts Midwest
c/o JASC
4427 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60640
www.aajazz.org
www.taikolegacy.com
www.airmw.org
infoairmw@airmw.org
T: (708) 386 9349
F: (708) 575 1869
The 16th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest and is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture and The Joyce Foundation.
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