Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra

Friday, August 15, 2008



There's a good article down at All About Jazz on Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra which is coming out with a new CD Ten this August 26th, and will be playing down at Yoshi's San Francisco on Thursday, September 11:

The Yoshi's event, which inaugurates the innovative orchestra's annual home season, takes as its theme “Bridging Japantown and the Fillmore." “We are mounting an outreach campaign in neighborhood schools and centers on both sides of the Geary Street divide," says Brown, himself of African-American and Japanese parentage, “to support this thematic focus on building community awareness and appreciation." [...]

The AAOrchestra grew out of a project funded by reparations money allocated by Congress, Brown explains, “to compensate for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II." Beginning with the ensemble's 1998 recording “Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire," Brown has been working with an evolving assemblage of players who share his unique musical vision, including bassist Mark Izu, who also plays Chinese mouth organ; Hong Wang, on reed trumpet, erhu (two-string Chinese violin), and traditional Chinese percussion; Yangqin Zhao on Chinese hammered dulcimer; trombonists Wayne Wallace and Dave Martell; reed players Melecio Magdaluyo, Marcia Miget, and Masaru Koga; and trumpeters Henry Hung and Geechi Taylor.
Go here for the full article.