Koichi Yoshida had his spring recital at Zac Baran Jazz Bar last night – and the place was packed! I like what he does with his recitals; inviting many other musicians, playing different genres, and generally mixing it up. After an initial honkyoku (traditional shakuhachi) tune to gives us some roots, he warmed us up with a nice jazz combo (quite a bit of swaying and foot- tapping to the Girl from Ipanema) and then a spicy Okinawan set with sanshin player Karura. This was followed by 鹿の遠音 (shika no tone) in which two shakuhachi players emulated the call and answer of two deer in the mountains, by playing across the room to each other. And then an interesting collaboration on a traditional piece with a sitar player (interesting because it totally worked). The final set was a group of original pieces largely by Koichi himself and very trance inducing and meditative in tone. Which was maybe why Mewby fell asleep! Here’s one of the Okinawan songs. I forgot to add the percussionist in the credits because he wasn’t on the original schedule for that song, but his name is 薫 (which unfortunately I don’t know how to read). Thank you, Koichi, for a wonderful musical experience!

You can also see the shakuhachi & sitar piece here.