Racha Fora at Tomi Jazz, NYC, Fri July 18

Date:

07/18/2014 - 9:00pm

Racha Fora at Tomi Jazz, NYC, Fri July 18

"Let's go!" is one of the many possible translations of Racha Fora, but the one most apropos to this ensemble might be "branch line"—in this case running from Brazil to Japan, a link older and deeper than you might imagine. Racha Fora's sound is, appropriately, at once delicate and propulsive, acoustic and electronic, and fleet of finger and mind.

Leader Hiro Honshuku's extensive resume is highlighted by his longstanding interest in Brazilian music and, above all, his lengthy association with the late composer, bandleader, and educator George Russell, author of The Lydian Chromatic Concept for Tonal Organization. Russell's ideas have profoundly influenced Honshuku's approach to composition and arranging and have led him to a musical idiom that is distinctively his own. In addition to the flute, Honshuku performs on the EWI, an electronic wind instrument developed by Akai that can traverse an astounding eight octaves; the vast array of sonorities it produces come from samples programmed by Honshuku on his laptop computer. - J. R. Carroll, July 2011, writer for artsfuse.org

Acton Jazz Cafe

Hiroaki Honshuku : 本宿宏明

Mauricio Andrade

Rafael Russi

Rika Ikeda : 池田里花