Search - Toshiko Akiyoshi :: Hiroshima Rising From the Abyss

Toshiko Akiyoshi has kept her jazz orchestra running for an astonishing 30 years. Her career dates back to the '50s, but it is with the formation of this long-running ensemble that she's come to the fore as a composer with a powerful and unique voice. Influenced by such leaders as Gil Evans and Thad Jones, she similarly combines instruments in subtle and stirring ways. In addition, she has drawn on her own Japanese heritage, weaving into the jazz voicings some of those homeland traditions. She and her husband (tenor saxophonist and flautist Lew Tabackin) are the principal soloists in the big band. For Hiroshima two guests musicians are on-hand, George Kawaguchi on drums and Won Jang-Hyun on traditional Korean flute. This highly personal album is built around the title suite which also features short narrated interludes in Japanese (read by Ryoko Shigemori), marking the day from the small and vulnerable vantage points of Hiroshima residents. --David Greenberger