Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW), directed by multi-instrumentalist and media artist Tatsu Aoki, presents the 28th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival at Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey Ave., #208, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov.11.
“AIRMW is committed to advancing the understanding and profile of Asian American cultures through the traditional and contemporary cultural arts,” says Aoki. “We are proud of our history of producing high quality arts programs reflecting the multicultural, multi-ethnic reality of Chicago and the nation. For nearly three decades, this annual festival, and this year’s program in particular, have been a perfect example of that mission in action.”
The Nov. 10 concert features solo sets by Chicago-based multi-media artist Takashi Shallow; and Pittsburgh-based shakuhachi player, composer, and visual artist Devon Osamu Tipp. AIRMW founder Tatsu Aoki will join Tipp in the world premiere of a collaborative work.
The Nov. 11 concert showcases saxophonist and composer Hitomi Oba, hailed by the L.A. Times as “powerfully inventive…remarkably versatile…with a penchant for crossing all over the musical place.” Oba’s performance selections will include works from her new album “Water Stem,” released this past May by Asian Improv Records, Executive Producer AIRMW’s Aoki.
Tickets
AIRMW presents the 28th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11 at Elastic Arts, #208, 3429 W. Diversey Ave. Tickets are $20 and on sale at the door. Accepted methods of payment include credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) as well as mobile wallets Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. For more information visit aajazz.org.
The 28th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival precedes AIRMW’s “Taiko Legacy 20th Anniversary” Concert (7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17) and “Reduction 9 concert (7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16). Both will take place at the Edlis Neeson Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave. For more information, visit www.taikolegacy.com or call the Taiko Legacy Hot Line 312.610.2581.
Asian Improv aRts Midwest’s (AIRMW) mission is to build a vital, self-empowered Asian American Community in the Chicago area by advancing the understanding and profile of Asian American cultures through the traditional and contemporary cultural arts. Through in-house programs and collaborative projects, AIRMW is dedicated to creating productive relationships with artists, communities and institutions. It continuously strives to maintain the responsibility of professionalism as part of cultural preservation by producing high quality arts programs that accurately reflect the multicultural, multi-ethnic reality of Chicago and the nation.
In 1984 Chicago artist and community leader Tatsu Aoki founded Innocent Eyes and Lenses (IEL) in response to the need for an organization dedicated to presenting Asian American artists and programs that were relevant to the community. In 2004 IEL was renamed Asian Improv aRts Midwest to reflect the community the organization was serving and recognize the 20-year partnership with the West Coast-based Asian Improv aRts. In 2022, thanks in part to community supporters, members and the Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF, AIRMW was able to purchase a permanent home at 4875 N. Elston. The space officially opened in February 2023 and houses the company’s administration offices and rehearsal space and is the site for classes and select special events. For more information visit airmw.org.
Tatsu Aoki is a prolific composer and performer of traditional and experimental music forms, a filmmaker, and an educator. In May 2018, Aoki was honored as the first recipient of the “George Award,” for his years of support, recording, and performance with renowned American Jazz and soul guitarist George Freeman. As Executive Director of AIRMW, an Asian American cultural arts presenter organization, Aoki has initiated and managed several programs to advance the understanding of traditional arts and community through the arts, including the annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, the Tsukasa Taiko Legacy, and the Toyoaki Shamisen arts residency projects. Aoki was selected by the Asian American Advisory Council of Illinois in 2017 for the Community Service Award from the Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White. He also received the prestigious Commendation for the Promotion of Japanese Culture from the Foreign Ministry in Japan, which is given to individuals with outstanding achievements in international fields and acknowledges the recipient’s contributions to the promotion of friendship between Japan and other countries.
Asian Improv aRts Midwest is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is supported in part by general operating support from the Illinois Arts Counsel, a State Agency and the MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; as well as support from the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Walder Foundation, Joyce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Guest Artist Bios
Takashi Shallow
Shallow is a socially specific artist whose experiments complicate notions of medium. He intends to highlight the visual and sonic characteristics of both the universally relatable and completely idiosyncratic aspects of these memories. His ongoing projects include operating the label Gesamt, organizing Percent–a collective of mixed-race artists–and independently publishing Insider Art, a series of critiques. Shallow has received fellowships and residencies at institutions like the Arts Club of Chicago and the Cliff Dwellers. He shows work at spaces like Links Hall and Elastic Arts and is a lecturer at the University of Chicago where he teaches art, music, and fashion.
Devon Osamu Tipp
Tipp is a shakuhachi player, composer, and visual artist whose research focuses on the intersection between traditional Japanese music, contemporary musical praxis, microtonality, and noise music. They creates unorthodox musical environments from ostensibly incompatible realms. Tipp has worked with Rarescale, the Thin Edge New Music Collective, the TAK Ensemble, and members of Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. Their compositions have been featured at festivals including the Soundscape Festival, Bowdoin Festival, Beyond 2020: Microtonal Music Festival, and the 2021 International Shakuhachi Festival in Prague.
Hitomi Oba
Hailed by the LA Times as a “powerfully inventive” and “remarkably versatile L.A. musician with a penchant for crossing all over the musical place,” saxophonist and composer Hitomi Oba’s work emphasizes the integration of improvisation with pre-composed music. She has written for and performed in various jazz and classical new music settings, including a commission by the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series and a multi-genre cantata with her new music collective, L.A. Signal Lab. Her second jazz album, “Negai,” released under Japanese label M&I and distributor Pony Canyon, received a prestigious “Swing Journal 42nd Annual Jazz Disc Award.” Oba currently teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles and California State University, Los Angeles directing several progressive and exploratory jazz ensembles, teaching jazz saxophone lessons, and developing and teaching a multi-genre music theory course.