MUSOH and its concept

As I have been announcing everywhere, we are throwing a double-bill show entitled "JAZZ... MAKE IT A DOUBLE" on October 22nd at The Triad.

On this show, I am reintroducing my "electro-acoustic" quartet format of guitar, keyboards, bass and drums, which I originally formed in 2005 and wrote a bunch of pieces for. Soon after I started playing with completely acoustic quartet featuring a saxophone in front, mainly because the owner of the club that I used to play gigs insisted that he wanted a horn in the band.

It actually worked out pretty well and made some solid musical statements. Some tunes that I originally wrote for the "electro-acoustic" quartet ended up being recorded with the acoustic quartet for my album Living Together. And I've written some more tunes specifically for the format that I would like to record some time in the future. My gratitude to all the horn players who have played my music and made a lot of contribution, especially saxophonist Sean Nowell.

But now, I would like to go back to my original concept, a fine blend of electric and acoustic, symbolically representing civilization and nature, and give it some time to develop. It has cultural and conceptual significance to me, perhaps because I am a Japanese native and it is an important theme for me to seek a well-balanced way of living in today's world that is losing its balance. I am not a lohas guru who would preach you how to live a sustainable life, and I am not that disciplined myself. But still, the idea of living in harmony with nature, rather than against it, is something I naturally cherish and would like to promote.

With this new project MUSOH, I would like to further explore the band sound that carries the best of both worlds. Color, texture and power of electric meet airiness, directness and warmth of acoustic. They all are going to live together, breathe together and make music together. I look forward to delivering this beauty to you.