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Toshiko Akiyoshi: Fine Wine
ByYou can't use a piano at the beginning, you have to hear, because you're the first audience. My early compositions were vehicles for the player, then it became programmatic music that tells a story

Toshiko Akiyoshi was just 23 years old when

Oscar Peterson
piano1925 - 2007
Born in Manchuria in 1929, her family returned to Japan in the summer of 1946. During a recent phone interview, she recalled, "I was playing dance halls. We had Stephen Foster songs in our books, but I was exposed to American popular songs like 'Sweet Sue' for the first time. I was 16 and took the job because my family could no longer afford to have a piano for me. I played in Japanese dance halls, where Americans were not allowed during the occupation. I met a Japanese record collector who invited me into his home. He played Teddy Wilson's record of 'Sweet Lorraine' and I had never heard anyone play so beautifully."
By the time she left Japan to study at Berklee (its first Japanese student), Akiyoshi was a seasoned pianist, composing for radio. "They were still teaching the Schillinger system, it was a totally different approach to music theory. Herb Pomeroy taught orchestration." The day she arrived in Boston, she was able to hear the

Bud Powell
piano1924 - 1966
After leaving Berklee, she married saxophonist

Charlie Mariano
saxophone, alto1923 - 2009
Akiyoshi and

Lew Tabackin
saxophone, tenorb.1940
The death of

Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974
Toshiko Akiyoshi's Big Band with Lew Tabackin made quite a few albums over several decades before she disbanded it. She remarked, "We never had a lot of jobs, but the ones we had were high profile. In 2000, I was asked to play solo at Kennedy Center. I was thinking that I should get back to playing piano. All of my writing came from my experience as a player, yet I soloed very little in the band. I always played in Japan without the band and sometimes in Europe. Writing and woodshedding is a full-time job. I wasn't getting any record dates in this country, only in Japan. The band played every Monday night [at Birdland] for several years. I did a farewell concert at Carnegie Hall in October 2003. People came from Europe, South America, Salt Lake City, California. That was a very good concert. People lined up for our last concert in Decemberpeople never lined up!"
To play solo, Akiyoshi admitted that she faced new challenges. "My work is harder now than before. When I had the band I was always at the piano, even after hours. Now I have to struggle to practice. I like to have virtuosity like Bud Powell
piano
1924 - 1966John Lewis
piano
1920 - 2001Hank Jones
piano
1918 - 2010Duke Jordan
piano
1922 - 2006
The process of composing is difficult for Akiyoshi. "You can't use a piano at the beginning, you have to hear, because you're the first audience. My early compositions were vehicles for the player, then it became programmatic music that tells a story. I have to work hard to listen as I think, it takes me a long time. I have a little insecurity. I go to the piano to see if I'm hearing it right. Melody is most important. Pianists develop a sense of harmony. I have no sense of writing melody, so I have to work very hard, so I'll come up with something. It's a long process." Yet Akiyoshi can agonize over small details. "If one note changes, it changes the whole piece. I can take a half-hour to decide on one note. When I was questioned about one note in a new chart, I explained that to the band and told them, 'Please cherish the note.'"
Akiyoshi has been playing more solo piano, along with small group dates, which required changes in her approach. "I always have a dilemma. When I wrote [for big band], I didn't have a problem, because I could always change it, I didn't have to deal with time. But when I play, I always think, 'Why did I do that?'"
In addition to her gig this month, Akiyoshi will play with Tabackin at Birdland in July and in a quartet at Monterey in September. She commented, "Sometimes when one of us is hired, they ask for both of us. ...Lew has his own identity and a piano-less trio with a repertoire that is very different from mine. We both have to compromise." Both Akiyoshi and Lew have developed reputations as wine connoisseurs, as well. "I collect to drink! When I started getting royalties, I spent them on wine." She joked, "Even though I may be poor, I like to drink good wine. At one point, I had around 4,000 bottles, strictly French, though I've stopped collecting. Lew started collecting a couple of years later and knows a lot about Italian wines. He's still collecting, I'm drinking."
Recommended Listening:
Toshiko Akiyoshi, Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi (Norgran-Verve, 1953)
Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, Mosaic Select 33 (RCA-Mosaic, 1974-77)
Toshiko Akiyoshi, Farewell (Ascent-BMG, 1980)
Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Concert (Columbia, 1991)
Toshiko Akiyoshi, At Maybeck, Vol. 36 (Concord, 1994)
Toshiko Akiyoshi/SWR Big Band, Let Freedom Swing (Hanssler Classic, 2007)
Photo Credit
Top: Madli-Liis
Bottom: Bruce Moore
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