Japanese Jazz Pianist

Mitsuo Kabuki, a Japanese Jazz Pianist

Mitsuio Kabuki is a Japanese contemporary jazz pianist and composer.  His live jazz concert, commemorating the release of his first CD album, "EPIC," was held at the jazz club, "Motion Blue Yokohama" on 10th January, 2018.  It was a unique event.  A jazz trio composed of a pianist, a bass player and a drummer set the stage alight in collaboration with a singer and a calligraphy performer.

Mitsuo Kabuki is an up-and-coming Japanese jazz pianist and his first album, "Epic" is superb.  He composed a total of 11 pieces for the CD.  His lyrical and beautiful melodies go straight to your heart, and bring back lots of memories.  Among them, "Akita" (The name of a prefecture located in the nrthern part of Japan) is the most beautiful.  It reminds us of a snow-covered town in the Northern part of Japan.

The performance on the day was a collaboration with two female artists, Sayuri Kusanagi, a singer, and Setsuhi Shiraishi, a calligraphy artist and performer.  These two ladies appeared to be good friends with Kabuki.  Their performance blnded in well with each other.  In fact, the best part of the show was a singing and calligraphy performance that depicted the image of the music.

Sayuri has an amazing voice.  She was emotionally expressive, and sang with a subtle and intuitively felt sense of rhythm.  Her clear and unrestrained singing voice was pleasing to the ear.  She seemed to be a young and promising artist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRxLyzryArw

Setsuhi is moving forward the world of traditional Japanese calligraphy with the unique style of calligraphy performance art she has developed.  She has created the world by subliming calligraphy into a composite art through collaboration with music.

While calligraphy is usually done by an artist sitting quietly and writing on a small sheet of paper with a Japanese pen and ink brush, Setsuhi uses a very large brush which she wields like a sword with large, dynamic movements.

In performances such as this one, she takes it one step further by combining the calligraphy with music.

She is gaining worldwide popularity and has given calligraphy performances at various places in and out of Japan, including the 60th anniversary event of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Tokyo, the exhibitions in Paris and NY.