Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project Album Release Concert
Tatsu Aoki’s The MIYUMI Project returns with their second album release in two years. “Raw and Alive II” brings back one of the longest standing amalgams of Chicago’s avant-garde jazz and Japanese traditional music. Their presentation draws upon aesthetics rooted in the Japanese tradition. The improvised compositions provide a conceptual framework for each band member to interpret, which in turn coalesce and transform into a vast contemporary expanse of musical immersion for the audience. Each successive grouping of MIYUMI Project musicians over the past two decades has contributed to the unique blending of modern application with traditional sensibility. The final result is a continuous evolution of a “live and raw” musical happening. The current MIYUMI Project members are: Tatsu Aoki, Mwata Bowden, Coco Elysses, Avreeayl Ra, Edward Wilkerson, Jaime Kempkers, and KIOTO.
“Its rough-and-tumble sound, embracing everything from funk backbeats to blues vocals to avant-garde improv, has attracted audiences across the city and around the globe.” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune (2008)