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Tomoko Omura: Roots And Branches
Sometimes hardships work as fuel
—Tomoko Omura
Christian Howes
violinb.1972
Clearly Howe isn't the only one impressed by Omura's musicianship and skills as an arranger, as she was voted as a Rising Star in Downbeat Magazine in July. It might seem like 2015 is a breakthrough year for Omura but that's not how the unassuming musican sees it: "Maybe it looks that way but I don't really feel that way," she says. "I've been doing the same thing -working on music, playing with my band and playing with other bands. My life is not really different."
After ten years in America, Omura's life is undoubtedly a whole lot different to when she was a student in Japan, dreaming of a passage to America to pursue her love of jazz. That Omura didn't go down the classical music path may seem odd, given that she began the violin aged just four and given her family background. "The strongest memory I have was when I was eleven or so, in Vienna, Austria," Omura recalls. "My mother was in the Shizuoka Symphony and they travelled there to play a Tchaikovsky violin concerto. I remember thinking 'Oh wow! This is great!' It was one of the most impressive concerts I've ever been to. It was beautiful, though I never particularly wanted to play that music."
Though Omura and jazz were star-crossed lovers destined to meet eventually, her introduction to this universe came close to home while she was still in junior high school.: "My older brother, Hiroyuki, started playing
Jimi Hendrix
guitar, electric1942 - 1970
Jaco Pastorius
bass, electric1951 - 1987
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
From there, Omura's path towards jazz followed a logical—though by no means easy—route when she later went to Yokohama National University. "I knew about the student organisation called the Modern Jazz Society, where students gather together and play jazz, but there's no teacher. In Japan it's pretty famous because some of the students become professional jazz musicians, so I wanted to be in that scene," Omura explains. "That's part of the reason I chose that university."
Early inspiration for Omura came from various sources: "I knew about
Stephane Grappelli
violin1908 - 1997
Jean-Luc Ponty
violinb.1942
Closer to home, Omura found a style of jazz violin more on her wavelength in violinist Naoko Terai, who has collaborated with
Kenny Werner
pianob.1951
Lee Ritenour
guitarb.1952
Richard Galliano
accordionb.1950
Omura's ambitions, however, didn't rest in Yokohama's Modern Jazz Society. Her eyes were on the Berklee College of Music, Boston—a seemingly impossible dream. "I was hoping to get a scholarship," Omura explains, "because if I didn't get one I couldn't afford to go, so I'm glad that it happened."
The young violinist made her way to Berklee in 2004, full of excitement and hope. Within no time at all she had made her mark, winning BCM's
Roy Haynes
drums1926 - 2024
George Garzone
saxophone, tenorb.1950
Glaser, a versatile jazz and bluegrass violinist and currently Artistic Director of Berklee's American Roots Music Program, would introduce Omura to one of her most important influences when he played her a recording of Polish violinist
Zbigniew Seifert
violin1946 - 1979
Like any good student, Omura dutifully made the transcription of Seifert's music. The rewards were significant. "I fell in love musically. I had never heard that intensity and such modern language on the violin." Having graduated cum laude from Berklee in 2007, Omura wasted little time in recording her debut CD, Visions (Self Produced, 2008). A personal homage to jazz violin greats, Omura's original compositions acknowledged Grappelli,
Stuff Smith
violin1909 - 1967
Mark Feldman
violin
Didier Lockwood
violin1956 - 2018
Joe Venuti
violin1903 - 1978
Born in Krakow in 1946, Seifert played with
Tomasz Stańko
trumpet1942 - 2018
Hans Koller
saxophone, altob.1921
Joachim Kuhn
pianob.1944
Cecil McBee
bassb.1935
John Scofield
guitarb.1951
Billy Hart
drumsb.1940
Jack DeJohnette
drumsb.1942
Oregon
band / ensemble / orchestraTragically, Seifert died of cancer in 1978, aged thirty two, and only recently with the release of his old recordings on CD is he beginning to reach a new generation of musicians, such as Omura. "There's a strong message in Seifert's music," she says. "I was blown away."
Fast forward half a dozen years to 2014 when Omura made a pilgrimage of sorts to Poland to participate in the inaugural Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition: "I don't think that playing music should be competitive and I would never enter another competition," Omura says, laughing. "I did this one because the competition was in Zbigniew Seifert's name. I had wanted to go to Poland for a long time to see where he was from."
Though Omura didn't win the competition she took away many positives from her participation: "I met many great people there, great violinists, supporters of jazz violin and fans of Zbigniew. I even met Zbigniew's wife, who was very supportive."
Musically, Omura also benefitted from the competition: "The experience challenged me and helped me find out what I want to say in music."
If on her critically acclaimed debut Visions Omura's drew from and expressed herself in a familiar yet striking jazz idiom, her follow-up is perhaps more of a personal statement, drawing as it does from her own cultural heritage—her deepest roots.
The origin of Roots goes back to a Japanese tour Omura was undertaking back in 2009 to promote Visions: "When I played in my hometown of Shizuoka, though, I arranged a Shizuoka folk song for that particular performance," Omura relates. "The audience knew the melody and reacted with such feeling. It was a great experience and I couldn't forget about it. I started to think it would be nice to do an album of all Japanese folk songs."
The playing on Roots is tight yet flowing, disciplined and exploratory. Much of the music's success music lies in the chemistry between Omura and guitarist
Will Graefe
guitar
Glenn Zaleski
pianob.1987
Colin Stranahan
drums"Everyone is a strong individual. I don't tell them what to do," says Omura. "They just do what they do. I bring the music and the charts and everything but they can get imaginative and bring their own thing, so that's the best part."
The song selection on Roots reflects melodies popular to several generations of Japanese, including, perhaps surprisingly, a lyrical take on the national anthem: "I had an idea to open and close the album with the Japanese national anthem as a tribute to Japanese people," explains Omura. "It didn't happen but I knew I was going to use it, in a little bit more stretched way."
It's a an approach Omura has taken with all the tunes, for with the exception of the sound of the tea-pouring ceremony that introduces the traditional "Cha Tsu Mi" (Green Tea Picking), there is little to suggest—to the unfamiliar Western ear at least—that these are famous Japanese tunes reimagined. The one tune that may ring a bell with jazz buffs is "Kojo No Tsuki (Castle in the Moonlight"), which
Thelonious Monk
piano1917 - 1982
Early in 2015, Omura toured Japan with Roots in a quartet consisting of Zaleski, bassist
Daiki Yasukagawa
bassThe Shizuoka gig, was needless to say, a special occasion: "It was great," says Omura. "Of course, in my hometown some people have known me since I was very little so it's like family. Some of them come every year to my concerts at home and I try to be a better musician."
In striving to be a better musican Omura uses her time to the best advantage: "Nowadays I practise a lot, whenever I can find the time. Sometimes I only practise in my head, while I'm walking outside," explains Omura. "I practise the improvisation in my head—how I want to make the phrases or a certain patterns that I want to learn—I'll practise in the head first and then I'll play it on my instrument. I like doing that walking outside; I feel freer than in a room. When you take the subway you can practise. It's helpful."
Like many musicians, Omura also teaches to help meet the rent, taking the same care with teaching as she does with making music. "I try to make the lessons as creative as possible which is the way I approach music in general," the violinist explains.
"I think it's very important to be creative and flexible, playing-wise and teaching-wise," Omura expands. "I myself wasn't solidly classically trained in Japan. I didn't go to the conservatory. I learned from my Mom—who is a classical violinist—but our lessons were basic and she wasn't training me to become a classical soloist. So, I think that kind of looseness made me really get into jazz and rock when I was a teenager. I liked that openness. It's very important to be open-minded."
On Roots the strands of rock and classical music in Omura's DNA are woven subtly into the mix but in New York the violinist also plays in a broad range of settings, from a one-off gig with
Gregg Bendian
drumsb.1963
Then there's String Bop Trio: "That plays more bebop repertoire, with violin, guitar and bass. I like that instrumentation but I want to stretch that project a little more, compose original music and record at some point. That one is still developing."
More definitely Omura is already working on a follow-up to Roots: "The Roots project is still on-going. There are so many good songs in Japan that I couldn't include everything on the first album. I've been composing more music and I have about half an album -maybe five songs already. I'd like to record that when I'm ready."
When the time comes, Omura will more than likely once again release the next chapter in the Roots project on
Greg Osby
saxophoneb.1960
In spite of the Downbeat recognition and the glowing reviews for Roots it has proved hard getting gigs for the Roots quintet in New York and beyond: "It's very difficult," Omura acknowledges. "I'm having a tough time, budgeting and so on. It takes patience and a lot of time and effort. I'm still learning how to do that in this society."
Nobody said that making it as a jazz musician in New York would be easy, but Omura, more than a decade into her American adventure and with two excellent recordings under her belt, is not only making a good go of it but, importantly, has no fear: "Sometimes hardships work as fuel," Omura says philosophically. "I don't want to go the easier way because I know I would be bored. I like challenges."
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Anna Chana Demidova
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