Interview: Masayoshi Ishikawa talks Mujo Suite, Fukushima, and blending taiko with jazz

Composer and pianist Masayoshi Ishikawa

Last summer Masa contacted me about the possibility of collaborating on a performance of his composition for taiko and 18-piece jazz orchestra. I quickly said yes because it sounded like an intriguing and unusual project with an underlining special significance. Originally from Fukushima Prefecture, Masa wrote Mujo Suite to commemorate the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster of northeastern Japan. After a half year of planning, we performed Mujo Suite at the University of Iowa on February 22. I also conducted lectures and workshops for a variety of classes during my residency, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Iowa City. I am very grateful to Masa and everyone involved in this project for the warm welcome and wonderful hospitality provided. Thank you also to Soten Taiko for kindly providing the taiko for this residency - it was immensely helpful. The photos and concert video are included at the bottom of this page.

I had a great time talking with Masa for this interview. We covered a lot of topics including the details about Mujo Suite, his background in Japan and the US, composing for Japanese instruments, my University of Iowa residency, his recent visit to Fukushima, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Eitetsu Hayashi, his teaching philosophy, and much more. Masa writes beautiful music and is a fantastic jazz pianist, and he speaks with much thoughtfulness, humility, and gratitude. The interview also features several samples from his album Dialogue which is linked below along with his facebook page.

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Originally from Fukushima Japan, Masayoshi Ishikawa grew up in a city called Aizu Wakamatsu. Throughout his primary and secondary school years, Masa actively participated in several choirs. He came to the United States in 2003 to begin his formal musical training in Seattle Washington, where he first found his passion for piano and the art of jazz.
As a pianist, Masa has performed at many jazz festivals and concerts in Italy, China, Japan and the United States. He was chosen to perform as one of the five finalists for 2016 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. Masa enjoys interacting and cultivating meaningful relationships with listeners and other musicians through performing music.
Masa is also passionate about crafting music with various instrumentations. His composition, Hotaru (firefly), was selected as the winner of 2014 Downbeat Student Music Awards in Graduate Original Composition for Small Ensemble. In 2019, Masa released his first jazz studio album titled Dialogue, which consists of ten original compositions written for vibraphone, piano/keyboards, acoustic bass/electric bass and drums. Several of his compositions have been published from UNC Jazz Press.

In addition to his latest project (Mujo Suite) with Eien Hunter-Ishikawa, Masa wrote and premiered another jazz orchestra multi-movement work titled Suite for the Forgotten in 2015. The suite is dedicated to people who are currently living in Fukushima under the uncertain health impact to the radiation exposure from The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants meltdown in 2011. In this composition, Masa employed a string quartet as well as French horn into the traditional jazz big band instrumentation.

As a sincere respect to Stevie Wonder, one of his musical heroes, Masa presented Stevie Wonder Recomposition Project in 2013. In this project, he selected multiple Wonder compositions to recompose for chamber jazz ensembles with various instrumentations.

He holds two Master of Music Degrees-one in jazz composition from the University of South Florida and one in jazz piano performance from the University of Northern Colorado. He received Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2015. In 2016-19, Masa served as a Visiting part-time Assistant Professor of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. Currently he serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Iowa.

Masa’s Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MasaIshikawaMusic/

Dialogue
https://music.apple.com/us/album/dialogue/1467830569

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University of Iowa Residency Photos and Mujo Suite Video

Mujo Suite - Three Movements for Jazz Orchestra, Taiko Drums and Shinobue I. Foreword/Finale (0:00 - 16:26) II. Prayer (16:26 - 25:47) III. Prologue (25:47 -...

Mujo Suite I. Finale

Mujo Suite III. Prologue

Rehearsal with the Mujo Suite band

Jamming with Giauna during the jazz seminar class

Teaching Edo Bayashi rhythms to the percussion seminar class

Practicing taiko patterns in the music therapy class

Lecture on the history and evolution of taiko for the world music class

Photo with Masa after the concert

Poster for the Mujo Suite performance

A recap of my 5-state Midwest teaching tour

Ho Etsu Taiko in Chicago

There are a lot of great things happening within the US Midwest taiko scene. My recent teaching tour took me through five states over a two-week period and each stop was full of positive energy and warm hospitality. I worked with groups which have existed for anywhere between a few years and thirty plus years, and it seems like the region is making more and more cross-state connections - hopefully planting the seeds for a future Midwest Taiko Gathering. I especially enjoyed seeing the various styles of each group and truly appreciated the heightened emphasis on musicality. Hopefully I'll be back soon!

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Soten Taiko in Des Moines

My first stop was in Des Moines, Iowa to work with my friends at Soten Taiko. The members took me straight from the airport to the famous Zombie Burger where we enjoyed great burgers and shakes while completely surrounded by everything zombie. The fun continued during the shinobue private lesson (where I was shown 2 beautiful shishi gashira they perform with) and the Soten Taiko workshop covering ensemble playing concepts. Dinner was another peculiar place where pizza was topped with Chinese-restaurant dishes like beef stir-fry and crab rangoon, all surprisingly tasty. The next day I drove north to Minneapolis in a rental car after having a fantastic breakfast at the local French bakery where I had one of the best almond croissant in recent memory. Many thanks to Ben, Mary Jane, Amanda, Tanis, and all of the Soten Taiko members!

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Edo Bayashi masterclass

I was really looking forward to returning to Minneapolis where I first met the Mu Daiko team in 2005 when I traveled there as a member of the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble. It was a blast seeing old photos from that time, reminding me of my initial admiration for Mu Daiko's wonderfully distinctive original compositions played at our joint concerts. This recent visit was organized by my friend Iris Shiraishi who is doing fantastic work with her projects Ensemble MA and TaikoAlive. While it was fun teaching workshops on intermediate shinobue and small drum technique, I was particularly thrilled to lead an Edo Bayashi masterclass for the class Iris runs. She and some other members have a history of studying with Kyosuke Suzuki sensei, and this session served as preparation for his visit in August following the North American Taiko Conference. It was also inspiring to get private lesson requests for shinobue, atarigane, and Edo Bayashi – things I would like to see more of out there. Happily there was some free time to check out a nice brewery, a good coffee roaster, and even a fantastic little drum shop that makes their own line of drums called Northeast drum co. I played the walnut mini kit and was shocked at how good it sounded. Thank you so much to Iris, Alex, Arlene, and all of the Ensemble MA and Mu Daiko members for the warm and enthusiastic hospitality!

Small drum technique

Intermediate shinobue

The Drum Loft

Urban Growler Brewing

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My next stop, Ho Etsu Taiko in Chicago, was the originator of this tour. My interview with artistic director Jason Matsumoto covers how we met, including the newly-released joint live album with On Ensemble recorded a year and a half ago. Ho Etsu is one of my favorite groups not only because the members are a joy to hang out with but also because they are creating interesting original material that fits the group's style and vision. It's exciting to think of the possibilities to come from their forward motion, and absolutely Ho Etsu is a group we should be keeping an eye on. In addition to workshops on small drum technique and Edo Bayashi, we took some pieces from the repertoire and explored ways to make the music speak with more clarity and artistic intension. Among the many great meals, the unusual beers at Forbidden Root were especially memorable. I also finally made the pilgrimage to the old Deagan building where I met Andres, the master tuner, repair technician, and owner of Century Mallet Instrument Service. As a Deagan vibraphone owner, I have ordered parts from them for many years, and visiting this historic place was just as incredible as I had imagined. A huge thank you to Jason, Johes, Midwest Buddhist Temple, and all of the Ho Etsu members for a remarkable time together!

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Initially I had planned on driving to my next location of St. Louis, but Expedia informed me that I could fly there for less time and expense than driving a rental car. When nobody in Chicago or St. Louis had heard of the tiny airline called Air Choice One, I knew there was a chance for an adventure. It turned out fine – a leisurely flight on an eight-seat prop plane with five other passengers and two pilots a few feet away. It was a windy day, causing the little plane to blow around, but having so much visibility inside made it quite an enjoyable ride. This was my second time visiting St. Louis Osuwa Taiko and I was delighted to see their brand-new shishi gashira. We covered the taiko part for Edo Kotobuki Jishi on the first day and conducted a workshop called Pulse & Ensemble Playing on the second. This is one of the few groups where I can exchange stories and share experiences regarding the original Osuwa Daiko in Nagano, Japan. Although I never had the chance to meet Daihachi Oguchi sensei, I am friends with his grandson and current leader Makoto Yamamoto, having visited their historic location in Okaya as well as presented an Osuwa Daiko concert in Vancouver, BC. Before taking my afternoon flight, I was able to visit an interesting brewery called Urban Chestnut where a self-guided tour tells about the brewery's environmentally conscious operations. Thank you very much to Andrew, Soon, and everyone at St. Louis Osuwa Taiko!

My ride to St. Louis

Urban Chestnut Brewing

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Great Lakes Taiko Center

My final stop was new for me – Great Lakes Taiko Center in Novi, Michigan. For several years I had been hearing from friends about Brian Sole and his taiko school located in this somewhat unexpected location. Having earned my undergraduate degree at Central Michigan University, I was familiar with the geography and knew there weren't many taiko players in the state when I lived there, which is why I was so impressed with how much Brian has done in a relatively short amount of time. From the nice studio and quality instruments to the large-scale annual concert and student recital featuring guest artists from Japan, everything is well organized and very professional. The school's community ensemble Go Daiko and Brian's professional group Raion Taiko seem to get steady work and deliver excellent performances. It was a pleasure to teach in the clean and quiet space with plenty of drums, huge mirrors, a powerful PA system, and notation for warm-up exercises posted on the walls. I admired how everyone participated in the workshops with full vigor, and I even witnessed the single most virtuosic note-taking display in my 20+ years of teaching. (Thank you Eileen!) I also taught private and group lessons on small drum technique, shinobue, and katsugi technique. There were many good meals including the famous Detroit style pizza at Buddy's, but Bento 39 (sankyu) was the place I was eager to try as I had heard about this unlikely little spot serving amazing Japanese comfort food. My katsu curry plate easily met my hyped-up expectations. An enormous thank you to Brian, Eileen, Jianin, and everyone at Great Lakes Taiko Center for making this marvelous visit happen!

Ji playing workshop

Great Lakes Taiko Center

Bento 39

Katsu curry