Chapter 6: Heritage
Performing Mirai no Rekishi at Grand Performances, Los Angeles with Shing02, Kaoru Watanabe, Yumi Kurosawa, Carlos Nino, Tylana Renga Enomoto, Brandon Eugeue Owens and Tommaso Cappellato (2017)
Around 2015 I felt more and more compelled to explore my Japanese roots and heritage through my music - something I hadn’t really done in the past. There had been opportunities, like performing with a traditional Kagura group in Japan in the late 90s, but even that was an opportunity that I wasn’t ready to fully embrace at the time. A commision to write a new body of work and present it at LA’s Grand Performances came at the perfect time, and resulted in the show Mirai no Rekishi - History of the Future. I leaned into folk tales I grew up on, experiences I had in Japan, and the musical language of ancient Japan. Most of the music I composed for the show would eventually become the Heritage double album project.
“This entire project brought me an understanding of my own identity and belonging in a way that I had never fully understood before. My spiritual connection, and connection with my ancestors was activated like never before.”
Concert poster for Mirai no Rekishi (2017)
Ryūgū-jō - from Mirai no Rekishi, live at Grand Performances, Los Angeles (2017)
Original sketch idea for “The Silk Road” (2017)
Performing at Sonihouse in Nara, Japan with shakuhachi-master Yousuke Yabuuchi (2018)
Mark de Clive-Lowe composes “The Offering” in rehearsal at Sonihouse in Nara, Japan with Yousuke Yabuuchi (2018).
![[Heritage - transmission]: Notes - author unknown - on the meaning of “heritage” which resonated me in creating this body of work.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b61c56df7939206fea9733e/1588902701253-F1J10OB2AO0P1TB5BYSD/Heritage+-+transmission.jpg)
[Heritage - transmission]: Notes - author unknown - on the meaning of “heritage” which resonated me in creating this body of work.
Original pencil sketch and final artwork for Heritage by painter Tokio Aoyama (2018)
Original pencil sketch and final artwork for Heritage II by painter Tokio Aoyama (2018)
Track by track narration of the Heritage II album
The full Heritage live presentation at the Aratani Theater, Little Tokyo Los Angeles with the band, string quartet and dancers (2019)
RONIN ARKESTRA
“With Heritage complete, I wanted to undertake a new project with all Japanese musicians, so assembled the collective Ronin Arkestra. Where Heritage used a lot of Japanese melodic and harmonic aesthetics in my composing and traditional stories in its narrative, Ronin Arkestra is Japanese by nature of all its members being Japanese, and us recording the entire project in Tokyo. ”
The debut EP and debut album from Ronin Arkestra - an ensemble featuring all Tokyo-based musicians joining me (2019)
Ronin Arkestra “Cosmic Collisions” live in studio, Tokyo Japan
Education
“The saying, ‘Each one, teach one’ has long been an important adage to me. I’ve given clinics all over the world, from NZ to Angola, from Japan to the US and Russia to the UK. Whenever I have the opportunity to help spark inspiration for another, I’m compelled to follow through.
”
Presenting masterclass clinics in Los Angeles (2015) and Auckland, NZ (2020)
NPR Jazz Night In America feature: Creative Risk Taking (2018)
Breaking Down the Rig with Reverb.com (2019)