CHICAGO ASIAN-AMERICAN ENSEMBLE: Origins of Now 2025 at Hyde Park Jazz Festival

From the organizers: CHIcAGO ASIAN-AMERICAN ENSEMBLE: Origins of Now 2025

In celebration of 30 years of empowering Asian American music in Chicago, Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) brings together a collective of musicians to draw upon the aesthetics of Chicago’s Asian American music with traditional music, experimental music, and creative jazz.

The celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Asian American Jazz Festival is made possible in part by support from the MacArthur Foundation.

Chicago’s Asian American Creative Jazz movement was influenced by the San Francisco Bay Area Asian American Jazz and Improvised Music movement led by Francis Wong, Jon Jang, Anthony Brown, Mark Izu, Glenn Horiuchi and Miya Masaoka in the 80’s.  The San Francisco Asian American Jazz Festival was the inspiration for the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, which started 30 years ago at the city's Bop Shop and Hot House. Jon Jang’s Pan Asian Arkestra was presented in 1994, and Anthony Brown’s Asian American Orchestra was presented in 2000 at the Chicago Jazz Festival. In 2001, the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s executive director (at the time) Lauren Deutsch, initiated the inaugural Chicago version of Asian American Big Band, and created a residency program as a local Asian American initiative. Chicago Asian American creative musicians already had solid roots in the city both in Jazz/Creative and Blues music, yet recognition of this important history was few and far between. Thus the first Asian American Creative Jazz Big Band was born as a project, “Origins of Now” MIYUMI project big band. This was the first Asian American big band local in Chicago. Past iterations included the following musicians: Tatsu Aoki, Hiroshi Eguchi, Yoko Noge, Mia Park, Ryan Toguri, Taku Akiyama, Jason Matsumoto, Hide Yoshihashi, Toru Hironaka, Jonathan Chen, Ameen Muhammad, Mwata Bowden were the members.  Project was reincarnated in 2006 and 2016 in slightly different formations.

The musicians:

Mai Sugimoto - reeds

Jeff Chan - saxophone

Jonathan Chen - violin

Jamie Kempkers - cello

Karl Evangelista - guitar

Tatsu Aoki - bass, shamisen

Kioto Aoki - taiko,  tsuzumi

Noriko Sugiyama - taiko

SuWan Choi - Korean percussion Miyumi Aoki - taiko, bamboo flute

Shalaka Kulkarni - dance

Yoshinojo Fujima - dance

For more information visit: https://www.hydeparkjazzfestival.org/originsofnow