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Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, the Asian American Orchestra's roots go back much further than its official 1998 inception. Dr. Anthony Brown, ethnomusicologist, bandleader and drummer, initially created an orchestra with musicians from East and West Berlin in 1988 (the "East/West Projekt"). He applied the idea of musicians from similar-yet-different cultural backgrounds a few more times over the course of the next decade, including the African/European/Asian group "Eclipse."
First assembled to explore life in the Japanese-American civilian internment camps during World War II-and somehow represent it musically-the Asian American Orchestra utilizes jazz as the base style for their sound. However, they incorporate musical instruments and concepts from around the world, including Chinese mouth organs, Persian drums, and gong. It ultimately results in a "lushly human and soulfully guided" experience in sound.*
The current incarnation of the Asian American Orchestra boasts multi-instrumentalist notables from the Asian American creative music community, the Latin jazz scene, scholars from the traditional world music communities, and leading session artists. According to Brown, "although the members represent the intercultural musical mosaic of the San Francisco Bay Area … the prominence of Asian sonorities and sensibilities define our sound and style." **
Their latest release, Far East Suite (1999), is an appropriate choice from the Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn catalog. The Orchestra takes the original piece and recasts it for their particular instrumentation and identity. The result is a magnificent reworking of a classic, and just in time for Ellington's centennial, no less.
Their unique, original and creative approach makes seeing the Asian American Orchestra live an absolute necessity for any aficionado of jazz, history, or culture.
- Matt Nichols
* = from the review of Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire (1998), found at www.asianimprov.com
** = from Dr. Anthony Brown's biography of the Asian American Orchestra, also found at www.asianimprov.com
Information was additionally gathered from the Asian American Orchestra's biography found at www.allmusic.com, written by John Vallier.
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Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire (1999)
Far East Suite Released (1999)
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