Basing its operations out of the JASC, the organization’s mission is to preserve and pass on the traditional concepts of taiko as a cultural legacy and to utilize these concepts in expanding and evolving the taiko form. Dedicated to building community and being a leader in the taiko drumming culture of the Midwest, it maintains a national and international profile by presenting public performances around the world throughout the year. JASC Tsukasa Taiko has performed at the Malta International Theatre Festival/Asian American Jazz Festival: Poznan (Poznan, Poland), the Smithsonian, the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the MCA among many national cultural institutions. It presents classes, workshops, lectures, and demonstrations on taiko performance and its the role in Asian and Asian American culture. Taiko classes are organized quarterly throughout the year for all levels of experience ages five and above

Born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1979, Hiromi took her first piano lessons at age six. She learned from her earliest teacher to tap into the intuitive as well as the technical aspects of music.

Hiromi took that intuitive approach a step further when she enrolled in the Yamaha School of Music less then a year after her first piano lessons. By age 12, she was performing in public, sometimes with very high-profile orchestras. “When I was 14, I went to Czechoslovakia and played with the Czech Philharmonic,” she says. “That was a great experience, to play with such a professional orchestra.”Further into her teens, her tastes expanded to include jazz as well as classical music. A chance meeting with Chick Corea when she was 17 led to a performance with the well-known jazz pianist the very next day.

“It was in Tokyo,” Hiromi recalls. “He was doing something at Yamaha, and I was visiting Tokyo at the time to take some lessons. I talked to some teachers and said that I really wanted to see him. I sat down with him, and he said ‘Play something.’ So I played something, and then he said, ‘Can you improvise?’ I told him I could, and we did some two-piano improvisations. Then he asked me if I was free the next day. I told him I was, and he said, ‘Well, I have a concert tomorrow. Why don’t you come?’ So I went there, and he called my name at the end of the concert, and we did some improvisations together.”

After a couple years of writing advertising jingles for Nissan and a few other high-profile Japanese companies, Hiromi came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. For as open as her musical sensibilities had already been when she came to the U.S., the Berklee experience pushed her envelope even further.

At 26, Hiromi stands at the threshold of limitless possibility, constantly drawing inspiration from virtually everyone and everything around her. Her list of influences, like her music itself, is boundless. “I love Bach, I love Oscar Peterson, I love Franz Liszt, I love Ahmad Jamal,” she says. “I also love people like Sly and the Family Stone, Dream Theatre and King Crimson. Also, I’m so much inspired by sports players like Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan. Basically, I’m inspired by anyone who has big, big energy. They really come straight to my heart.”But she won’t, as a matter of principle, put labels on her music. She’ll continue to follow whatever moves her, and leave the definitions to others.

“I don’t want to put a name on my music,” she says. “Other people can put a name on what I do. It’s just the union of what I’ve been listening to and what I’ve been learning. It has some elements of classical music, it has some rock, it has some jazz, but I don’t want to give it a name.”

More about Hiromi Uehara at her website

The band made its international debut at the 1985 Yamaha Bands Explosion in Tokyo, Japan. There Dwiki Dharmawan won a Grand Prix as the most talented keyboard player at the contest. Some changes and additions to the band”s lineup followed as Krakatau began work on their first jazz-pop oriented recording, which was released in 1986 by Bulletin Records, a subsidiary of Billboard Indonesia. Additional players included young jazz keyboard wizard Indra Lesmana on keys and Hollywood College graduate Gilang Ramadhan on drums, replacing Budhy Haryono. Also on board was vocalist Trie Utami, who contributed her considerable talents to the album; Krakatau had previously collaborated with well-known singers Hari Mukti and Ruth Sahanaya for their live performances.

Krakatau scored several bits, including “Gemilang” and “Imaji”, both written by Dwiki Dharmawan & Mira Lesmana. “Kemelut” written by Indra & Mira Lesmana, and an instrumental cut entitled “Haiti” composed by Dwiki Dharmawan. In 1987 Krakatau released their second album, which produced the hits “La Samba Primadona” (by lndra Lesmana & Trie Utami) and “Cita Pasti” (by Dwiki Dharmawan & Trie Utami).

In 1988, Krakatau recorded the hit song “Kau Datang,” which was written by Gilang Ramadhan. Pra Budidharma and Dwiki Dharmawan and was included on the album “Kembali Satu”. After the peak performance and successful sales of “Kau Datang”, the band went through a period of transition and partial dissolution. lndra Lesmana, Gilang Ramadhan and Donny Soehendra formally resigned from Krakatau, and the remaining band members went their separate ways, for a while.

Pra Budidharma worked as an Artist & Repertoire staff member at Billboard Indonesia and from his new home base in Bandung became an independent record producer specializing m the traditional music of West Java. Trie Utami decided to embark on a solo recording career, while Dwiki Dharmawan became a respected moxie score composer and arranger. ln 1991 the Blackboard recording company made an offer to produce a Krakatau reunion album. Dwiki Dharnawan and Pra Budidharma took the deal and reunited the band”s original lineup minus guitarist Donny Soehendra and with Budhy Haryono once again on drums.

The resulting album, entitled “Let There Be Life.” was released in 1992. At their performance at the 1993 Jakarta Jazz Festival. Krakatau revealed a bold new musical direction: from jazz-pop-fusion to the traditional music of indonesia, specifically the Sundanese traditions of West Java.

Krakatau’s new musical format utilized the micro-tonal system of the ancient gamelan tradition, based on the so-called “S’lendro” scale. Their album “Mystical Mist” released in 1994. was the first to use this new format. This album’s innovative sounds were enriched by the group’s collaboration with Sundanese percussion virtuoso Adhe Rudhiana and multi-instrumentalist Yoyon Dharsono, who added traditional drums, wind, and stringed instruments to Krakatau’s mystical mix. In the years since the release of Mystical Mist the band has been further developing its sound with the help of three additional players from the College of Karawitan on gamelan instruments and percussion. Krakatau has also begun to explore and adapt musical ideas from beyond West Java, drawing inspiration from the Indonesian archipelago’s staggeringly diverse musical cultures.

The second album released in 2000 called “Magical Match” by Kita Music/Musica Studio. Album with duration for about 51:58 has 12 songs. Most of them quite often presented in Jazz and World Music Festival.

The third and fourth album released at the same time in 2005 called “Rhythm of Reformation” and “Two Worlds” by MusiKita after their extensive tour in Eastern Europe.

More info about Krakatau, please click their website here

Making New York home for the past 15 years, Rez Abbasi is considered by many to be one of the foremost modern jazz guitar players on todays scene. He has developed a unique sound both as a composer and an instrumentalist and has honed his skills with performances through out the world including multiple tours in Europe, Canada, the U.S., Mexico
and India. He has performed and recorded with many greats including, Grammy winner Ruth Brown, Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Barre Phillips, Tim Hagans, Marc Johnson, Billy Hart, Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith, Gary Thomas, Rick Margitza, DD Jackson, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Tony Malaby, George Brooks, Pandit Ronu Majumdar, Pandit Kadri Gopalnath, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Greg Osby and a host of others.

Among Rez’s other creative projects is his long-standing association with bassist David Phillips, drummer Tony Moreno and alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher in the highly acclaimed, collective ensemble, “Freedance”. Rez is also musical director and producer for Indian/Canadian Juno winning vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia’s ensemble. He also plays an integral role in Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Trio and Dakshani Ensemble, Dave Pietro’s Quintet plus Sunny Jain’s Collective among others.

With five albums of original compositions under his belt, Abbasi continues to garner new groups of musicians to help his musical vision come to life. His 2005 recording Snake Charmer has created a
stir in the music world partly due to his organic, original approach in blending two complex musical genres together, namely jazz and Indian music. 20th Century Guitar reviewed the CD as, “One of the best examples yet of how to merge Indian music with jazz…Snake Charmer really breaks new ground.” In 2006, Rez achieved even greater heights with the follow up to Snake Charmer, Bazaar.

Bazaar, on the prestigious Zoho Music Label, continues the groups journey through uncharted territory and achieves results unparalleled in todays jazz/world music scene. Rez makes wise use of his fellow player’s talents to create a larger sphere of sound. Besides Gary Versace on organ and Dan Weiss on drums and tabla, Kiran Ahluwalia returns as a central member of the group. In her own group, Ahluwalia focuses on the Indian genres of ghazal and Punjabi folk music. And in it Abbasi hews closely to Indian musical conventions. On Bazaar, however, he and she and the group stretch way out.

Rudresh uses Vandoren products exclusively.

In 2005, Yuri Mahatma releasing If I Were A Magician, a solo Album with Joe Rosenberg, Steve Bolton, Agung Prasetyo, Bogie Prasetyo and Eko Sumarsono. This albums available via WartaJazz.comfor orders. More info about Yuri’s work available from here.