It’s been another busy and exciting year! Although I haven’t had much time to post lately I’d like to share highlights about some wonderful concerts and events.
On March 12th at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, CA I was honored and thrilled to perform with legendary bass player, composer, and bandleader Alphonso Johnson. For anyone who doesn’t already know, he’s recorded with Weather Report, Carlos Santana, Phil Collins, Bob Weir & Michael Jackson to name just a few… He’s also an incredibly kind, humble and caring person.
In an era when musicians are often only able to get together for a quick rehearsals before a gig, this one was unique; we rehearsed with Alphonso in small groups for nearly 6 months. During that time a variety of tunes and arrangements were explored. The end result was a concert that touched on many of the era’s of Alphonso’s storied career.
I was extremely honored when Alphonso asked me to do an arrangement of Sakura which we performed as a duet; electric bass and koto. The musicians that played in the band were without exception phenomenal! It was such a thrill to perform with them and I hope we can do it again.
I was hired by the Energic Corporation to perform for their annual worldwide conference in Las Vegas on July 28th. For the event I invited my brother, Hirotaka Ogawa to perform with me. Hirotaka flew out from Japan and we had a wonderful time! His arrangement of First Trial, from our Beyond the Space CD, included internationally recognized, award winning, shamisen player Mike Penny. I’ll post a video soon!
Currently I’m working on several exciting performances including Genji with music composed by Koji Nakano and Seeds, a multifaceted Japanese cultural performance. We’ll perform Genjiat Scripps College in Claremont on Oct 29th. Seeds will be performed at the Armstrong Theater in Torrance on January 14th, 2017. Check back here and on my Facebook page for more information about both!
Best regards,
Yukiko
