A Personal Trip Down Memory Lane
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Artist:
Toshiko Akiyoshi needs little introduction to any fan of Jazz. Her band was one of the longest-standing house bands at the famous, and now defunct, Birdland in New York. This number is one of many reasons why. It has all the trademarks, including the common feature of any Akiyoshi arrangement: she has five saxophones, and she'll be damned if she has any two of them playing the same note at the same time.
This number has deep personal meaning for me. It was one of the charts we did in high school. That's right, high school, not college. We had a very talented jazz ensemble when I was in high school. My personal challenge stemmed from being a guitar player. The charts we had didn't have a part written for guitar, so I had to write my own. It was a profound learning experience for me, and something that has stayed with me ever since.
I tend to lend a great deal of support to any "Save the Music" efforts, and this is the reason why.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (3)
You know (or you should) that i'm a sucker for a master Sax player. This is awesome, & totally new to me
and then the trumpet! way cool.
Glad you posted her. I think you are asking a lot to think anyone over the real deep followers of the genre would know her. Not saying I'm one of the folks, but I had bever heard of her until a few years ago when I distributed her Hiroshima Rising From The Abyss record. Whoa..that was good. Since then I've heard a lot more. Great stuff.