New Kid In Town. Takaaki DDD TROY1689 WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL.

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1 Takaaki TROY ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY TEL: FAX: ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. Takaaki_1689_book.indd 1-2 New Kid In Town DDD

2 A pianist friend commented that only in New York can you find a local restaurant that serves elegant food and elegant jazz. It was in that venue that I first heard Takaaki play. Even on his abbreviated keyboard I could sense his musicality, his dynamic sensitivity, and beautiful harmonic sense. That first night I thought this could make a fine trio recording with Noriko Ueda on bass. What I learned later, when he was on a grand piano, was his technical proficiency. To complete the trio Noriko introduced me to Jared Schonig, who as it turned out attended the same school (Eastman) as I did. We selected five originals, four jazz standards, plus one Broadway show tune (Takaaki s suggestion) and two Novelties from Gustav Holst s The Planets. The originals include two exquisite tunes by Takaaki, a beautiful LullWater by Noriko, and two of my tunes written for this project. I first heard them play Brubeck s Your Own Sweet Way in the club and loved the way they played it. For an up tempo, Neil Hefti s Repetition though we miss Charlie Parker s great solo. I thought John Lewis s Django deserved another hearing, and, because we needed something languid, Thad Jones s lovely To You, which works quite well as a trio, though sans Thad s beautiful orchestral textures. At the time of putting this project together the film The Martian was a big hit in theaters, which gave me the idea to use Holst. What was interesting, was that Holst s harmonies gave us a fresh aspect when used to play jazz upon them. Bernard Hoffer Takaaki_1689_book.indd 3-4

3 Born and raised in Kobe, Japan, Takaaki Otomo started the classical piano at the age of five.when he was 15 years old, he changed to jazz music, listening to the music of Oscar Peterson. He was taught by the pianist, Tadao Kitano, who is a famous music teacher in Kobe. In 2007, he won first prize in a jazz competition in Kobe. He belongs to the group Gingerbread Boys, which plays at a number of venues in Kansai area. In 2014, he moved to New York City. He has released a number of CDs as a leader and sideman as well. In 2008 his first CD Nightmare was released with Otomo as leader. During his career in Japan, he has performed with Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Lewis Nash. He has been influenced by Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Fred Hersch and Brad Mehldau. Noriko Ueda is originally from Hyogo, Japan. Her interest in music began early in her life, studying classical piano at the age of four. At 16 she began playing the electric bass and at age 18, began her career with the upright bass. Noriko was a B.E.S.T. scholarship recipient and majored in Jazz Composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston where she graduated in 1997, and relocated to New York City. She has performed at many historical jazz venues include Carnegie Hall, Blue Note Jazz Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy s Club Coca-Cola, the Kennedy Center Jazz Club, Birdland and Small s and has also toured and recorded with various groups including the legendary Frank Wess Quintet and his Nonet, the Ted Rosenthal Trio, the Grady Tate Band, Sherrie Maricle and DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Five Play, and the Harry Whitaker Band. She has performed at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York several times as lead band with the Noriko Ueda Trio, her Quartet and her big band Noriko Ueda Jazz Orchestra, and also as a featured artist. ( ) Her first leader trio album Debut features Ted Rosenthal (piano) and Quincy Davis (drums) released by the Japanese record company Terashima Records in Her big band arrangement Takaaki_1689_book.indd 5-6

4 of This Land is Your Land was featured in Macy s 4th of July fireworks which was broadcast on CBS in She has toured Japan with the Ted Rosenthal Trio ten consecutive years, and performed on his CD Out of this World, which reached number one on the national jazz radio charts. Ueda was featured on a Japanese documentary TV show called Gutto Chikyu-bin, which documented her life as a jazz musician in New York City. She was the winner of the third annual BMI Foundation/Charlie Parker Jazz composition Prize for her original big band piece Castle in the North in Laurence Hobgood, Fred Hersch, Wycliffe Gordon, Joe Locke, and Ernie Watts among others. A favorite among vocalists, Schonig tours with Grammy Award-winners Kurt Elling and The New York Voices in addition to rising vocal supergroup Duchess and Concord Records artist Spencer Day. He also co-leads The Wee Trio, which was named a group to watch by Downbeat Magazine and has five critically acclaimed albums to its name. When at home in New York, Schonig plays on a number of Broadway shows he recently held the drum chair for the critically acclaimed Tony, Grammy and Emmy-award winning Broadway Revival of The Color Purple and is in demand as a drummer/percussionist for studio recordings and session work. Acknowledgments Producer: Bernard Hoffer Recorded by David Kowalski at Teaneck Sound Studio, Teaneck, New Jersey August 23, 2016 and December 1, 2016 Mixed and mastered by Dave Kowalski at The Singularity, Hackensack, New Jersey Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jared Schonig began playing the drums at age 14. He won seven Downbeat Student Music Awards before graduating from the Eastman School of Music in 2005, during which time he also performed with Joe Locke and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Now a resident of New York City, Schonig has toured and/or recorded internationally with Nicholas Payton, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Donny McCaslin, Publishers People Warner Chappell Music Inc./Merrill Music Corp. To You Kendor Music Inc. In Your Own Sweet Way Malcolm Music Repetition Neal Hefti Music Corporation Django Jatep Music Evening Glow and Grandma s Song available from the composer New Kid In Town and Rush Hour available from the composer LullWater available from the composer Thank you to Dave Kowalski and Pamela Knowles. Special thanks to Andrea Valentini and Noriko Ueda, for her valuable assistance for this project. Takaaki_1689_book.indd 7-8

5 Takaaki Otomo NEW KID IN TOWN TROY1689 Takaaki New Kid In Town Takaaki Otomo 1 Evening Glow [6:23] Bernard Hoffer 2 New Kid In Town [5:00] John Lewis, arr. Bernard Hoffer 3 Django [5:13] Noriko Ueda 4 LullWater [6:06] Neil Hefti, trans. Bernard Hoffer 5 Repetition [5:22] Jule Styne/Bob Merrill, arr. Bernard Hoffer 6 People [5:01] TROY1689 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY TEL: FAX: ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. DDD Gustav Holst, arr. Bernard Hoffer 7 Mars [5:57] Takaaki Otomo 8 Grandma s Song [4:09] Dave Brubeck 9 In Your Own Sweet Way [7:03] Thad Jones, trans. Bernard Hoffer 10 To You [6:01] Bernard Hoffer 11 Rush Hour [3:31] Gustav Holst, arr. Bernard Hoffer 12 Venus [5:09] Total Time = 59:06 Takaaki Otomo NEW KID IN TOWN TROY1689 Takaaki_1689_inlay.indd 1 9/21/17 9:57 AM