The sleekness and effervescence of jazz meets the dynamism and boldness of the taiko drum in a concert of unreleased materials from 1970’s original taiko theater – the Gintenkai in Tokyo. Classical masters Hyakkyou Fukuhara (flute/percussion), Chizuru Kineya (shamisen) and Shijuro Tachibana (kabuki dance), will be joined by a critically acclaimed roster of jazz artists including poet and musician Coco Elysses; the fiercely creative jazz/reggae/world music specialist Hamid Drake; JoVia Armstrong, the winner of Black Women in Jazz Awards’ 2014 Best Black Female Percussionist of the Year, and, direct from France, drummer and improviser Yuko Oshima.

The resonating thunder of taiko drums, the precision of traditional Japanese dance and the delicately emotive sound of the Shamisen share the stage when the multigenerational Tsukasa Taiko performs a fascinating and highly entertaining mix of original compositions and arrangements in a broad range of musical styles from ozashiki (geisha chamber music) to minyo (folk music) to ohayashi (classical/folk/theater music) and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music). Joining the 30 members of Chicago’s Taiko Legacy will be San Francisco’s Melody Takata and the GenRyu Arts and three classical music grandmasters from Japan: Chizuru Kineya, Hyakkyou Fukuhara and Shijuro Tachibana.

Grandmaster Shijuro Tachibana conducts an interactive Kabuki music workshop giving the audience an opportunity to participate in creating the musical landscape for a traditional Kabuki performance.