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Naoko Terai
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| The violinist has just
released Jazz Waltz |
At the inaugural Tokyo Jazz Festival in 2002, one figure
stood out among the giants of pianist Herbie Hancock's
Super Unit jam session. And it wasn't only for her
lithe figure and bright smile. Violinist Naoko Terai's
clear tones and supple yet unadorned solo work had caught
the ear of producer Hancock, who invited her to perform with
the Super Unit on the festival's second day after hearing
her play the day before.
Hancock, it turns out, wasn't the first jazz heavyweight
to be impressed with Terai. Veteran pianist Kenny Barron ran
across her at a small Tokyo jazz club in 1994 and invited
her on the spot to join him on a recording. "I was
so taken with her playing that I mentioned to her that if
the situation should ever come up, I would like to use her
on something," Barron told Jazz Weekly. "Well,
the situation came up. I had the record company call her in
Japan and she came over. She had never been to New York before.
She had never been in a recording studio before. She did very
well. Now, she is a star in Japan."
While Terai's ability, looks and attitude seem to have
preordained her for success, fame has only come in the last
few years. The violinist in fact chose a hard road when she
gave up a promising career as a classical violinist to pursue
her interest in jazz back in the mid-'80s. A child
prodigy, Terai had begun to play the violin at 4, appeared
on TV at 6, and was winning prizes by her early teens.
But a life as a concert violinist was not in the cards. Influenced
by violinists like French hot jazz stylist Stephane Grappelli,
Terai traded in Mozart for Miles, debuting as a pro jazz violinist
in 1986. Several years of "dues paying" followed
until Barron happened across Terai, but after the chance meeting,
which resulted in her participating on Barron's Things
Unseen, recognition came quickly.
She issued her first album as bandleader in 1998 with Thinking
of You, backing it up with a national tour. Swing Journal
gave Terai its New Star prize in 2000, and the following year
she released Princess T, recorded in LA under the direction
of fusion guitar titan Lee Ritenour. She toured Japan with
Ritenour the same year, recording the appropriately titled
Live, and followed it up with her first self-produced album,
All For You.
In 2002, Terai formed her own group, and at the same time
she signed with Toshiba EMI for an album of original material,
Anthem, released at the beginning of 2003. Keeping up a blistering
pace, Terai has this month issued Jazz Waltz, which sees her
exploring a range of songs based on the "oom-pah-pah"
3/4 meter characteristic of waltzes.
Including interpretations of Shostakovitch's Eastern-flavored
title track and the Beatles' "I Me Mine,"
the album showcases a range of Terai's moods, from
contemplative to playful. Her backing band contribute ably
in a fairly MOR jazz vein, leaving plenty of space for Terai's
elegant solos, the star of the show.
Naoko Terai plays the Blue Note
Tokyo on January 5-6. See concert listings for details.
Credit:
Blue Note Tokyo
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