Akira Sakata & Giovanni Di Domenico
Japan / Italy
Time
2014.10.20 21:20 – 22:20
Venue
B10 Live, North District of OCT-LOFT
Artists
Akira Sakata – Alto Sax / Clarinet / Voice
Giovanni Di Domenico – Piano
Akira Sakata
Born in Kure-city, Hiroshima in 1945. Studied marine biology at Hiroshima University. Formed a group Saibo-bunretsu (Cell fission) in Tokyo in 1969, Sakata’s long lasting music quest has begun.
In 1972, he has joined Yamashita Yosuke Trio. The trio performed at many jazz festivals including Moers New Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival etc.
In 1980 he formed “Wha ha ha” and his own trio “Sakata Trio”. The following year, “Sakata Trio” toured throughout Europe. In November 1981, Sakata appeared in Berlin Jazz Festival with newly formed “Sakata Orchestra’, which was extremely well received.
In the beginning of 1982, he formed another group “Sakata-Sextet”, since then, he embarks on his experimental adventure, repeated assemble and disassemble of groups in several formats, to name a few, “Sakata Akira & His Da-Da-Da Orchestra”, “MITOCHONDRIA” and “HARPACTICOIDA”.
In 1996, he carried out a tour to Central Asia with “Flying Mijinko Band”, a collaborative project with Bill Laswell.
He currently performs actively in various sessions focusing on his “Sakata Akira Trio” and “Sakata Akira & Chikamorachi”, and some collaborative session works with Jim O’Rourke.
In 2004, started own production label “Daphnia”, released self-produced album “Doudeshou?” (means “how is it?”) and started to work with Jim O’Rourke in various projects.
In 2007, he acceded to a visiting professor of Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. He released new CD “Friendly Pants” by “Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi”.
In 2008, he made a Japan tour with Jim O’Rourke, Darin Gray and Chris Corsano.
In 2009, he performed with “Chikamorachi” in Perspectives 2009 in Vasteras, Sweden. Also he played at Umbrella Music Festival in Chicago with “Chikamorachi” and made a special session with Jeff Parker, Nate McBride and John Herndon.
In 2010, he released his trio’s CD “Chotto!” (English title is “I’m Here!”) from Daphnia label.
In 2011, he made a Tokyo, Moscow, Europe, Tokyo tour with Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi. He appeared in Music Unlimited 25, Wels Austria curated by Peter Brötzmann. LP “In a Babble” (live at Umbrella Music Festival, Chicago) was released by Presspop. LP “Live at Hungry Brain” (Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi, Parker, McBride, Herndon) and CD “And That’s the Story Of Jazz…” (Akira Sakata & Jim O’Rourke with Chikamorachi, concert tour in 2008) were released by Family Vineyard. Solo CD “The Tale of Heike” was released by Doubtmusic. CD “Live at the Bitches Brew” (Akira Sakata & Nobuyasu Furuya) was released by Solid Records Ultra-Vybe.
In 2012, CD “Sora Wo Tobu!” (Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi with Yosuke Yamashita, Jim O’Rourke and Michiyo Yagi) was released by King Records.
Website
Giovanni Di Domenico
Pianist, performer, composer, was born in Rome on the 20th July 1977.
Following his father’s consecutive assignments as a civil engineer he actually lived out his first decade in Africa – until he was five in Libya, from then until his eighth anniversary in the Cameroons and until ten in Algeria. His far off native country was not synonymous with civil unrest as much as with opera, whose arias he would memorize with his siblings in order to practice the language and provide some family entertainment. The condition of expatriate had a strong influence on his education – he clearly remembers the calls of the muezzin, the sound of exotic musical instruments in local markets, the ritualistic expression music took in the streets of Yaoundé, or the songs he heard from his nanny in the Cameroons.
When he finally enrolled in music school – majoring in ‘jazz piano’ – he further built on an encyclopedic technique; rhythm, harmony and tone are informed by non-western traditions yet equally sensitive to Debussy’s “Préludes”, Luciano Berio’s “Sequenzas”, to the “ambi-ideation” heard in Borah Bergman’s Soul Note recordings, Cecil Taylor’s polissemic density, Paul Bley’s bruised transparency and of course, the most radical manifestations stemming from the underworld of pop music, invariably tied together by his own original praxis. A distinction – one would call it generational – he shares with many of the musicians he has crossed paths with recently, of which we could enumerate Nate Wooley, Chris Corsano, Arve Henriksen, Jim O’Rourke, Akira Sakata, Alexandra Grimal, Tetuzi Akiyama, João Lobo or Toshimaru Nakamura. Di Domenico has founded his own label, Silent Water, home of an eclectic and occasionally unclassifiable production. He lives in Brussels.
Website
