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Master Class: Tiger Okoshi Jim Donaldson, Reporter He became infatuated with English at an early age as the result of an English-speaking girl in one of his classes. He told of asking her to send whatever was “happening trumpet music” when she returned home. He received a bunch of Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass recordings and music, and he put together a band to play the music. Okoshi demonstrated his love and respect for the material by singing a couple of extended TJB licks. Married at 18, he and his wife honeymooned via Greyhound Bus crossing the United States. When he arrived in Boston and visited the Berkelee School, they decided to stay. At this point in the master class Okoshi invited his rhythm section to join him in a mid paced blues. Okoshi sang in a scat-style adding vivid hand gestures and facial expressions. Through all of this he created a type of musical conversation and communicated a variety of emotions. Okoshi related that he was home in Japan in January 1995 at the time of the Kobe earthquake and spoke of how he tried to protect his Okoshi concluded by stating that as much as one may respect the jazz tradition, it is personal expression that is the foundation of the art. “William Shakespeare did not grow up reading William Shakespeare and Clifford Brown did not grow up transcribing Clifford Brown.” |
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Japan and choosing to play the trumpet because it was one of the last two instruments left in the school closet (trumpet and clarinet) both of which were dirty and foul smelling. He chose the one he didn’t have to put in his mouth!
mother and family during the quake. In the aftermath, his trumpet was buried in debris for two days and, though he knew where it was, he spent his time helping others recover from the quake. When he returned to the United States, he stopped playing for several months. He also stopped listening to music, asserting that he needed “milk for his newborn ears.” He heard a lyrical melody by Rachmaninoff that renewed his desire to create music and began the long process of rebuilding his perspective after the earthquake. He played that melody during his first few concerts back from the layoff.