Asuka Kakitani

April 30th, 2008 | Sakura Jazz Orchestra!
"Asuka Kakitani and Noriko Ueda are two of the best of the newest generation of jazz composers. Each has her own, distinct voice. The combination of the two should be musical dynamite! I highly recommend hearing them, especially now that they have their own band."
-Jim McNeely (composer/arranger/pianist for Village Vanguard Orchestra, director of BMI Jazz Workshop)

Two award-winning female Japanese jazz composers, Asuka Kakitani and Noriko Ueda, have joined forces to form Sakura Jazz Orchestra. Named for Japan’s most iconic flower, the cherry blossom, Sakura Jazz Orchestra celebrates the two women’s similar histories and their unique voices in modern jazz composition.

Although they wouldn’t meet for a very long time, Asuka Kakitani and Noriko Ueda were born a few years apart and both grew up in the Kansai area of Japan. They started their musical experience by studying piano at a very young age, and as they grew older, music gradually began to take center stage in their lives. At the end of high school, Asuka and Noriko both enrolled in local music colleges; Asuka in the Kyoto Conservatory of Music as a piano performance major and Noriko as a classical voice major at the Osaka College of Music. In their late teens, each woman became interested in jazz, and began performing professionally in their area of Japan. Asuka played many solo piano engagements, performing a wide variety of works including jazz, classical, and pop music. Asuka reflects, “The listeners at my gigs were mostly interested in jazz standards, but they enjoyed anything as long as it sounded good. So I had a lot of freedom to indulge in the different kinds of music that I was interested in at the time.” Having taken up a new instrument in high school, Noriko played the bass in piano trios and larger ensembles, remarking, “I was listening a lot to Bill Evans and Tommy Flanagan’s trio records. Playing so many standards with so many people gave me a great foundation in the jazz tradition, and it was that time of my life that I was actually able to see a way of making a living playing jazz.” Their experiences performing in Japan led each to the conclusion that it was time to move to the birthplace of jazz: The United States.

Coincidentally, both women decided to move to the same part of America: Boston, MA. Years apart from one another, Asuka and Noriko were each awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music and studied with many of the same professors, including Greg Hopkins, Ted Pease, and Ed Tomassi. While at Berklee, both Asuka and Noriko decided to major in jazz composition and each began to develop her own compositional voice. Asuka remembers, “I learned a lot from a Duke Ellington class where we were checking out the “Such Sweet Thunder” recording. I learned so much about his compositional and orchestration styles. On my own, I was checking out so many things, like all of Kenny Wheeler’s ensembles for his melodic and harmonic sense, Maria Schneider for her amazing orchestrations, and classical composer Samuel Barber’s compositions for his motivic development, too.” Noriko remembers a variety of different influences as well, saying, “The first composer I studied was Thad Jones. I though he was truly great. Really swinging and melodic, with great jazz elements like masterful sax solis and big band shout choruses and the like. I was also listening to a lot of Bob Brookmeyer for his colors, song structure, and surprising development, Bob Mintzer for the way he uses chords, and Gil Evans’ writing on Miles Ahead for the incredible moods he created and his use of tuba and bass together.” Both Asuka and Noriko found their time in Boston to be invaluable, and afterwards each of them concluded there was only one place to go.

Again, without having met, the two composers coincidentally decided to both move to Brooklyn, NY. After doing so, they also were accepted at separate times into BMI’s Jazz Composers Workshop, championed by the legendary Jim McNeely and the late Manny Albam. Though they started several years apart from each other, it was here at this workshop that Asuka and Noriko finally met in person. The women had shared similar musical paths, and as composers they both won the same benchmark award, though at different times. Asuka and Noriko were each awarded BMI’s annual Charlie Parker Composition Prize and the Manny Albam Memorial Commission for Large Ensemble at the foundation’s annual composition concert, adjudicated by such luminaries as Joe Lovano, Robin Eubanks, and Dan Morganstern. Both Asuka and Noriko remain as not only the only Japanese women to receive the prestigious award, but the only Japanese composers to win the award regardless of sex. Each woman premiered their commissioned piece at BMI’s concert the year following their award, and subsequently retired from the BMI program. Their friendship blossomed at BMI, as did their appreciation of each other’s music. Noriko observes, “I think of Asuka’s music as having a certain sensitivity, a warm vibe derived from a natural femininity. She definitely tends to compose in a less traditional, more through-composed way. She has a very interesting structure to her music and I really enjoy her development of even the simplest motifs.” Asuka muses, “I hear Noriko’s music as being bright, energetic, and memorable. I love her rhythmic ideas and how she can compose using more traditional song forms and make them sound fresh and original every time. I think our music will sound great together in concert.” They decided to further develop their musical relationship through the formation of Sakura Jazz Orchestra.

Asuka Kakitani (an accomplished pianist and composer) and Noriko Ueda (a successful bassist and member of Grady Tate’s band and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra) together have written over 100 compositions and arrangements for various size ensembles, including many commissioned works. Collectively, their music has been performed live throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, including the annual IAJE conferences, in the famous Blue Note and Merkin Hall in New York City, the Fairbanks Arts Festival in Alaska, as well as many performances on radio and television. Their works have been recorded by several jazz ensembles and have been included in collegiate music libraries. For Sakura Jazz Orchestra, Asuka and Noriko’s individual compositions will provide a unique compliment to each other’s in concert, and they will further collaborate by writing jazz arrangements of Japanese folk songs. With Asuka as the orchestra’s conductor and Noriko as it’s bassist, Sakura Jazz Orchestra will benefit from their collaboration and their individuality. The Sakura Jazz Orchestra will surely be an orchestra to watch.