Sweet Hearts (feat. Priscilla Ahn and Charlie Wadhams)
Monday, April 23 9pm
Bardot
1737 Vine Street
21+ FREE with RSVP (click here to RSVP)
18+ ok!

Sunday, April 29 10pm
Bootleg Bar
2220 Beverly Blvd
21+
$15-17
tickets

I’m going to be doing a few shows this week with two really cool singer sonwriters, Priscilla Ahn and Charlie Wadhams.  They just recently put out an EP called Sweet Hearts.  It’s a small collection of sweet love songs that are poetic and catchy at the same time.  For a sample you can check out a video below and see more of their videos here.  I had the good fortune of touring a bit with Priscilla last year, and she’s definitely one of my favorite singers to listen to, period.

This Monday we will be at Bardot as part of the School Night! series presented by Chris Douridas (KCRW) and Matt Goldman (MFG).  We are on first at 9pm and it’s only a 30 minute set, so don’t be late!  For those of you over the age of 21 the show is free if you click on this link to RSVP.

Next Sunday the 23rd we will be at the Bootleg Bar, which is a great place to go to hear music.  Opening for Sweet Hearts will be a band called The Parlour Suite, and they are great!

I hope you come out to see one or both of these shows.  It would be a great date night, and even if you’re single there will be plenty of cute girls (and guys) there that you could meet, unless you’re one of those creeps who like to go to shows where you know cute girls like to hang out.  But if you’re not creepy then I’m sure the cuties would like to meet you so then you definitely should go.

At any rate the music is awesome, and that’s why you should go!

Let’s back up a bit.  At the beginning of this summer I was trading emails back an forth with an old colleague from CalArts when he wrote that he was giving my info to a singer whom he had done some stuff with that was looking for a keyboard player.  I thought it might be fun, I hadn’t done many non-jazz gigs and anything John Wood was working on would be worthwhile, since he’s one of the best rock keyboardists I know personally.  I thought I would be a show in town somewhere, probably a little club in Echo Park or something.

The next day, Priscilla emails me and asked me if I wanted to go to Korea and Singapore with her.  What?

Of course I said yes and promptly got her recordings to start researching.  Her music has a lot of quirky synth sounds, almost toy-like in nature, so much of my preparation went into leaning how to emulate those sounds as best I could.  As a jazz pianist who primarily deals with finding the best delay effect for my Wurlitzer, this was a refreshing departure from my day to day routine.  I ended up using some soft samples on my computer and an old Yamaha toy keyboard that I had as a kid, then sold, then bought again at a pawn shop a few years back cause I thought it might come in handy one day…

The shows in Asia were awesome.  The Jisan Valley Rock Festival outside of Seoul, Korea was overwhelming, with thousands of fans all there to see Priscilla.  She’s pretty big in Korea, with a number one record there and a very loyal fan base.  In Singapore we played at Esplanade, a beautiful recital hall with great sound and a great piano that I was able to add to my synth setup.  There was a lot of down time so I got to see a lot of both cities in the short amount of time we were there.

And then it was over.  One week, two shows halfway around the world.  When I was in high school I wanted to do essentially three things:  Go to grad school and maybe teach in college, get married and start a family, and tour around the world playing music.  In one week, I had accomplished that elusive third goal.  It was a great little trip and I came back ready to resume my humble little life as an anonymous jazz musician and educator.

Then one night I got a text from Priscilla asking me if I wanted to go on tour with her.  For a musician, A callback is probably the best compliment you can receive, and I was thrilled that she wanted to keep me around for a little while.  Only problem, the tour was three weeks, not even a month into the new term at CalState Northridge, where I teach classes.  It took a bit of last-minute pleading, but I was able to take a leave of absence to do this trip.

So here we are, a week into the tour, in Ohio.  This post was supposed to be a review of the first week of the tour, but it’s already too long, so I’ll do it on a later post.  But now you know how I got here in the first place.

Nola’s
734 E. 3rd St. (Downtown Arts District)
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 680-3003
nolasla.com

————-

Saturday, September 3, 9-midnight
Josh Aguiar Group
Josh Aguiar-trumpet, Gerry Pinter-saxophone, Gary Fukushima-piano, Roger Shew-bass, Tim Pleasant-drums

The Blue Whale
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3833
(213) 620-0908
bluewhalemusic.com

Today is my birthday. This getting old business is getting old.

As I mention in my earlier blog post, the last half of summer for me has been filled with a lot of activities that are new to me, from playing indie rock and electronic music and doo-wop and blues on organ to doing some fairly major yard work and buying my first grill. Sure, it’s only a charcoal grill but it’s about time I buck up and do what real men are supposed to do when you have a serviceable backyard. By the way, when the charcoal is really hot don’t put marinated chicken into the flames, you end up with black chicken.

Anyway, this weekend I get to play jazz again and not just any jazz, I’m talking about my music with my trio, cause today is my birthday and it’s all about me today, on my birthday. Did I mention that it’s my birthday?

On Friday GF3 is debuting in a new venue for us, a place in the Artist district called Nola’s, for New Orleans, Louisiana, with appropriate decorum and fare. We’ll be doing three sets there so we will probably play our entire book. Should be a lot of fun. Oh, and there’s no cover!

Saturday finds me back in the comforting walls of the Blue Whale, where I’ll be playing with a cool band let by trumpeter Josh Aguiar, who might be one of the more versatile trumpet players I’ve ever played with, equally at home playing bebop and latin jazz as he is playing avant-garde and crazy. He’s also a riot on the microphone. Seriously, I’d pay a cover to hear him do 10 minutes of stand up.

I am looking forward to doing some things that are familliar to me, you know like when Frodo and the hobbits return back to the Shire from Mordor having vanquished Sauron and his minions. Although drinking at their favorite pub just wasn’t the same for them, was it? I wonder how I’ll feel back with my trusty trio, it’s been so long. My eyes hurt from staring into that fire on Mt. Doom. And how am I going to play with only nine fingers?

On Tuesday I taught my first class back from summer break at CalState Northridge, a beginning improv class with lots of young (and older) smiling faces, all of us ready to tackle another year of textbooks, tests, lesson plans, and a lot of coffee.  Back to life as we all know it.

The summer abruptly ended this morning, and I have to admit I’ve been grumpy all day but I didn’t realize until later this evening that the two were related.  Most of this past summer to me already seems like a faraway dream, traveling to Hawaii and Asia, playing music with awesome musicians, and getting to meet some interesting people as well.  Getting to perform for the first time in Hawaii for my Aunty who was one of my first piano teachers was a good thing.  Playing for thousands of people at a rock festival in Korea was certainly out of the ordinary for me.  So was being coerced by two very nice but very insistent Korean ladies to buy five pounds of individually packaged kimchee to take back to the states.  Probably the most surreal moment of the summer came after our show with Priscilla Ahn in Singapore, where a very well known local music empresario took me out to a club with an awesome cover band, and before I knew it I was up on stage playing the clav intro to Superstition.  To bad the band didn’t tell me they do that song in E, not Eb like the original.  A recurring bad dream comes true!

Even after coming back from Asia, the eventful summer kept eventing.  In the span of one week (that is, last week) I did these things:

-played cocktail jazz for a wedding
-played original electronic music (someone else’s, not mine) in a flamenco bar
-arranged and played doo-wop covers for an all asian doo-wop singing group and backing band
-recorded a blues album where I played Hammond B-3 for the first time
-dug out a ton of weeds and grass from our backyard and built a mulch patio and a gravel/resin-flagstone patio for the charcoal grill
-hosted a small party in new backyard for Jesslyn’s 2nd birthday

The party was Sunday.  I wish I could say I was in recovery mode, but that was Monday.

Today we are moving on.

Also, today is my birthday.  We’re going to Disneyland!  One last hurrah!

My plans for the summer as I can remember them from about six weeks ago involved:

-transforming the office into Jesslyn’s new bedroom

-clearing out all the weeds from the backyard and actually having a decent place to hang out back there

-teaching jazz classes at a summer workshop

-making a recording with my trio

-getting an iPad and learning how to make cool music on Garage Band

So far, I have done exactly none of those things.

Even though it’s only July, I feel the summer slipping away.  Things like car trouble, jury duty, and a sudden onslaught of last minute gigs have derailed my well-laid plans.  But there are other things coming up which I find very exciting and help to make me less bummed about my lack of checks on the to-do list:

This Friday I will be at Blue Whale once again with my faithful trio.  We were supposed to have recorded a ton at this point, and of course we have not done that.  However, we did play last week at a private function and the band sounds better than ever.  All three of us have been doing a lot of other projects and it’s been hard to schedule some rehearsal time, but one of the great things about having a band that’s been together for a number of years is that you can go for a while without playing together and then the next time you play it’s like you just played yesterday.  So here’s to yesterday, or something.  We will be doing some of our older material that we haven’t done in awhile just to keep it sharp for our constantly upcoming recording.  Plus you haven’t heard us for many months either, so I’m sure it will be just as new and exciting for you as it will be for us.

Next week I will be doing my first ever gigs in Hawaii!  My parents are from there, and my wife is as well, so I’ve been going back there regularly ever since I was a little kid, but this is the first time I have ever booked any professional gigs there.  I will be doing a trio show with some great players, Abe Lagrimas on drums, who recently moved to Los Angeles from Hawaii, and Dean Taba on bass, who less recently moved back to Hawaii from Los Angeles.  I got a chance to play with both of them at the Asian American Music festival (opening up for ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro), and it was a lot of fun and they are incredible players.  I’ll also be doing a show with my friend, the extremely talented singer Sharmila Guha, who happens to be visiting Hawaii at the same time.  I’m really looking forward to playing music for some of my friends and family who live in Hawaii.  Aloha!

At the end of the month I will be playing in Korea and Singapore!!!  This is the most recent development and the one that ultimately caused me to shelve some of those other plans for the time being.  I’m going to be backing up an amazing singer/songwriter by the name of Priscilla Ahn, who is signed to Blue Note and has had a number one hit in Korea and has had her songs featured on movies and tv shows.  I feel really blessed to be able to work with Priscilla.  We’re rehearsing right now and I’m blown away by how good she is.  But don’t take my word for it, check out this video:

So there’s my summer in a nutshell.  As I’m going to be gone for most of July I hope you come out to see the Blue Whale show on Friday.  And as for my original summer plans, well I still have the month of August to tackle some of those other things, so I’m not giving up hope that I can do something before summer ends and I have to go back to school…

…oh yeah.  That part still sucks.

I’m also happy to add that Matt will be joining my trio on Tuesday night for the Blue Whale jam session.  Consider this an informal start to the festival.  I think there will be a number of LAJC members there that night and it should be a lot of fun.

Last time out we were encouraging people to bring tunes to read (emphasis on the word ‘read’ as in ‘readable’).  I think we can try it again, so if you bring a tune, you can jump to the front of the jam session wait list.  How’s that?

As a teaser, here’s a bootleg of a tune from a gig we did last time Matt was in town:

Isfahan (Matt Otto-sax, Gary Fukushima-keys, Ryan McGillicuddy-bass, Ryan Doyle-drums, recorded live at Ye Olde Ship, Santa Ana, CA, January 14, 2011)

GF3 + Matt Otto Blue Whale Jam Session
Tuesday, May 24 9pm
Blue Whale
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka Street Los Angeles, CA 90012-3833

Japan Relief Recital
Friday, May 20, 2011 7:30pm
Cypress Recital Hall, California State Northridge
1811 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330
Call 818-677-3181 for more info

With all the recent news of floods, tornadoes, birth certificates and terrorists it’s easy to forget that half a world away there was an incredible tragedy that happened recently, an earthquake and tsunami that continues to make life difficult for tens of thousands of people in Northern Japan.  There are shockwaves, literal and figurative, that contine to reverberate across the country.  Just today there was a report from BBC that Japan has slid back into an economic recession as a direct result from the earthquake.

The unimaginable horror of watching so many houses, cars, boats, and people be washed away like they were little toys is something that I don’t think anyone can properly process.  It looks like it can’t be real, like it’s just another scene in the latest disaster film.  Coupled with the short attention span of the daily news cycle is enough to obscure the true magnitude of the amount of human suffering that continues even now.

It goes without saying that as a Japanese American I have more than a trivial interest in what is going on in Japan regarding the earthquake, and of course having the same name as the damaged nuclear reactor makes it rather hard to ignore the news.  That’s why it has been gnawing at my soul to do something to help the situation over there.  When someone approached me about playing for a student-led fundraiser for Japan, I quickly agreed.

The event will take place this Friday at 7:30pm, in the music recital hall on campus at CalState Northridge, where I teach jazz piano.  There will be a number of very talented students performing, and I am honored that they asked me to play as well.  I am bringing Miles and JP along to play with me, and for that I am truly grateful to them for donating their time.

One of the pieces we will be playing is an older Japanese melody by 19th century composer Rentaro Taki, entitled “Kojo no Tsuki” or “Moon Over the Ruined Castle”.  It was written in homage to the ruins of Oka Castle in southern Japan, but later lyrics were added by Bansui Doi, who was from Sendai, which is in the north.  He wrote his lyrics in honor of the ruins at Aoba Castle in Sendai and Aizuwakamatsu Castle in Fukushima.  It is a fateful irony that Sendai and Fukushima were the regions hit hardest by the 2011 Tsunami.

Flowery feast in spring high up in the castle
Cups were passed around with moonlight reflected on the surface of sake
The moonlight shined through the old pine branches
Where is that old moonlight now?

Encampment in autumn was white covered with frost
A number of geese honked as they flew across the sky
The moonlight shined on the swords thrusted upright into the ground
Where is that old moonlight now?

Now at midnight the moon is right above
For whom does it shine like in the past?
Nothing remains on the rampart but some ivy
Nothing to hear but the rustle of pine branches in the storm

Up in the sky the moon and the stars remain unchanged
But in the earthly life, rises and falls come and go
Does the moon hang there to reflect those changes?
Ah! the midnight moon over the ruined castle

I first recorded this song a decade ago with vocalist Ben Black for his beautiful album remembered faces/private places.  Thelonious Monk of all musicians has an interesting version as well, which you can listen to here.  My arrangement is also Monk-inspired, but my main source of inspiration will be the tens of thousands of people in Sendai, Fukushima, Otsuchi, Ishinomaki, and all the other places so profoundly devastated by the waves.

GF3 Hosts the Blue Whale Jam Session

Original Music Night
First part of the session will feature tunes by anyone who brings charts

Half a decade ago on a Tuesday morning I received a call seemingly out of the blue from a Mr. Matsumoto, an elderly man who ran a humble little club in Little Tokyo called 2nd Street Jazz.  His house band had unexpectedly quit and he needed me to come down to the club to play for the Tuesday night jam session.  Having recently graduated from CalArts and without much work, I agreed to do so and showed up that evening.  The first person I met there was a drummer named Miles Senzaki, who had gotten the same call from Mr. Matsumoto that I did.  The place was dark, rather dirty and in disrepair, and the piano was horribly out of tune with a number of broken strings.  There was a woman named Yasuko tending bar who at one time had been married to the owner.  At one point she got out from behind the bar to sing and play a tune on the piano, expertly attacking the piano with her small hands and feet with an enthusiasm bordering on violence, and I began to see how the piano had arrived at its present condition.  Mr. Matsumoto was there and he thanked me and Miles profusely for showing up on short notice to help him out.  He was old and very frail, but he had a keen ear and real love for jazz.  Later I found out he had been a jazz trumpet player back in Japan, and that Yasuko’s father was the leader of big band in Tokyo.  I also found out that Matsumoto-san had severe and terminal cancer, and that he had opened his club after learning about his condition, to live out the remaining years of his life living and breathing jazz every night.

What he hadn’t counted on, however, was his body’s ability to cheat death and continue to live.  Matsumoto-san was given six months to live; 5 years later he was still going strong, relatively.  Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about the club.  Running a jazz club has to be one of the most difficult business ventures anyone could embark on, and eventually 2nd Street Jazz became a place for  DJ’s and rock bands, with the Tuesday jazz jam session being the only night where Matsumoto could listen to the music he loved.

Miles and I and bassist J.P. Maramba (who joined us after about a year) dutifully played the session every Tuesday for years.  Mr. Matsumoto eventually succumbed to his cancer, and the Tuesday session is an ever more distant memory for us.  But the three of us have continued to play and grow together as musicians, developing an original repertoire and having the opportunity to play in all sorts of interesting settings.  We’ve become close friends and I am excited about the music we have yet to write and perform and record together.  We had a lot of good times at our weekly Tuesday ritual, and many people have asked me if we would ever start another session.  I told them we were open to it, but not to hold their breath, because I didn’t have any forseeable opportunites.

That is, until now.

Joon Lee at the Blue Whale has decided to let different groups rotate in hosting his jam session, which has moved from Mondays to Tuesdays, which seems only fitting.  This Tuesday Miles, J.P. and myself will resume a role that established our existence as a trio, and for my part I can’t wait.  Of course standards will be the usual fare, but we’re adding a twist to the evening in that we are encouraging musicians to bring in charts of their own tunes, in essence making the first part of the session an “Original Music Night”, a chance to share our own music with each other.

If I could see Matsumoto-san again I would thank him over and over again for that phone call, as it has been responsible for much of my musical career for the past half-decade.  Who knows, maybe he will be there, in spirit.  I would hope so.

Sunday, January 23 7-8:30pm
The Joint, 8771 West Pico Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90035-2212

Saturday January 29 9pm-midnight
The Blue Whale, 123 Astronaut E S Onizuka Street Los Angeles, CA 90012-3833

To the right is a picture of me and Cathy Segal Garcia performing at a venue in the Valley sometime last year.  I didn’t even know anyone was taking photos that day.  Thanks, Google Image.  It was a classic CSG event, where she manages to bring together musicians who might never see on the same stage otherwise.  In this case it was me and Ryan McGillicuddy on bass and Ryan Doyle on drums, backing up Cathy, trombone vitruoso Bob McChesney, and flute and singing legend Sam Most.  The unusual parings are intentional.  Cathy knows so many musicians and other artists and is always looking for ways to bring people together.

I can’t even remember when I first met Cathy, but I feel like I’ve known her for a long time, mostly as a colleague at CalState LA, where I would accompany her voice students.  It was there watching her teach where I got to know her musicianship, her adventurous artistic spirit, her mastery of vocal technique, but most of all I got to know her giant heart, how she really loved and cared for all her students and treated them with such respect and encouragement no matter how good (or bad) they were.

We have had a number of performances together, a few faculty recitals, a few times in her house band for the jam session she used to host, and some gigs around town, including one at the Left Coast Wine Bar where a smiling young man named Joon Lee sat in on a djembe.  Joon, as many of you know, went on to become the founder of the Blue Whale, perhaps the best jazz club in Los Angeles at this moment.

Recently I played with both Joon and Cathy at the beautiful Alva’s Showroom in San Pedro, and it occured to me that it is no accident that Joon has received universal praise for his openess to all kinds of music and for the unwavering respect he has for the musicians who play at his place.  The fact of the matter is that Joon was a student of Cathy’s for many years, gleaning not only much of her vocal expertise but also how to become an artist and a jazz musician, and how to interact with other jazz musicians.  I believe Cathy was instrumental in shaping Joon’s outlook on the musicians’ community, and without Cathy Segal Garcia, we might not have had Joon Lee and all he has done for us.

I’m thrilled that she has invited me and my trio to play with her for a few gigs next week.  We have a 90-minute set at The Joint this Sunday, where we will be preceding the Ron McCurdy Collective, an interesting group featuring Ron and some outstanding vocalists.  Next Saturday we will be at the club of Cathy’s protogè, the Blue Whale, where we will be joined by famous poet Michael C. Ford, in yet another interesting CSG paring.  Mr. Ford has performed with, among others, the Doors in their heyday, so I’ll have to bone up on my Ray Manzarek licks.  Check out his wikipedia entry, it’s pretty cool.

MATT OTTO QUINTET

Matt Otto saxophone,
Steve Cotter guitar,
Gary Fukushima piano/keys,
Ryan McGillicuddy bass,
Jason Harnell drums

Steamers Jazz Club and Cafe
138 West Commonwealth Avenue
Fullerton, CA 92832
RSVP 714-871-8800
http://www.steamerscafe.com/

The blurry snapshot above is one of the few existing pictures (if not the only picture) of myself playing with this fantastic group.  It’s from a few years ago at the Aroma Spring Festival in Idyllwild, CA., and it was also the first time I had gotten to play as an official member of this hallowed band.  Guitarist Steve Cotter had to cancel at the last minute so it was up to me to take care of all the counter melodies and harmony.  I remember being very excited and a little apprehensive to be invited to join this group of personal heroes.  The gig was really fun and I was looking forward to many more gigs and recordings with these guys.

We did a few more gigs after that, including a show at the Jazz Bakery, and then of course Matt moved to Kansas City.  He’s been back a number of times already but this is the first gig he’s had with his own quintet since he moved.  If you haven’t heard his band, I would strongly recommend you attend.

It really is my favorite music to play, period.  Matt’s writing is exquisite, intricate and challenging, yet very lyrical and even emotional.  It goes without saying Matt’s saxophone playing is quite unbelieveable in his understated mastery of harmony, rhythm, tone and creativity.  Jason Harnell and Ryan McGillicuddy have an uncanny rapport.  Ryan once described it to me as a kind of mind-reading symbiosis, where they can take incredible chances with the time and form of the music, with the security that they can come out of whatever they get into relatively unscathed.  Steve Cotter is a true gem of a guitarist, with an encyclopedic knowledge of harmony and repertoire, and a beautiful melodic sense and a great guitar sound.  I remember playing a gig with Steve where guitar legend Ry Cooder came up to the band and exclaimed, “This sounds really good!”  I thought he was talking about the band, but as it turns out he was talking about Steve’s rig.  Of course he wasn’t talking about the band…
Anyway, this group has a very rare performance on Tuesday.  No one has any idea when we will play again, so I’m going to treat it as the precious moment that it will be.  I guarantee you it’s worth the drive down to Fullerton.