Day 47: Jazz Concert in San Jose

Mari, Sylvia and I went to see a Jazz concert this evening in San Jose. The concert is a part of the “Japanese Week” festival going on in San Jose, right now….although the actual length of the festival has been grossly underestimated and spans 3 weeks, that come to an end on October 19th.

The concert featured Haruko Nara ( Japanese pianist who attended Julliard and the University of Columbia and has a masters and doctorate in composition and musical education), Gino Sitson (singer, composer, percussionist, from the Bamileke region of Cameroon in Central Africa, who studied under his mother, at the University of Sorbona and the University of Paris) and Yoshiaki Masuo (a Japanese guitarist, with no formal education, but who has been in the Jazz game for many years and has played pretty prominently).

I am writing out their bios, only because I found it fascinating how different their backgrounds are and wander where and how they ever met to become a group.

There music was amazing, it was all instrumental and vocal styling, but with almost no actually lyrics, which made it a great representation of international music. The songs were largely inspired by older folk music from various cultures that had been updates to fit their unique brand of jazz. Gino definitely stood out with his interesting vocals and myriad of percussion instruments, I really don´t know how he kept it up and how he made it different each time to fit the mood of the song.

And Haruka, you could tell that she is a very talented person, I think her and Gino must have composed most of the songs. Her piano playing rocked, she did songs where it sounded like to individual pianists must be playing, the parts were that different in sound and rhythm, but they worked well together and she was playing them simultaneously. But more impressively, I think we were all surprised when she started playing a samba drum for a song she and Yashiaki did together.

It was just pretty awesome, and unexpected since it was a free concert, held in a classical style theatre near the central park of San Jose. At the same time, not too far away, there was a children´s group holding a production in the Teatro Nacional.

I would really like to post a sample of their music on my blog…but am finding it hard to find copies on the internet, especially given my limited net time. But I promise to do so if I find any, or if anyone back home with a better connection who is intrigued by this post, looks them up and sends something my way. *grins*

Impressions . . .

• Wow, how did we manage to come at the right time to first level private balcony seats. Cool! These must be the best in the house.

• Love the lighting, it works with each song.

• Man, I actually am willing to go and buy a CD, but they aren´t selling any here….that´s new.

• There is not a single Costa Rican restaurant or Soda, in the food court off the central park. Damn U.S. fast food chains.