Blog - YOSHIMORI Makoto: live report
Yoshimori Makoto: live report
On Wednesday I went to Monnaka Tenjō Hall to see a solo piano concert by Yoshimori Makoto, original member of Modern Choki Chokies. I had seen him for the first time in September, opening for Hasebe Novko (report).
Yoshimori Makoto was actually planning to make this show to celebrate the release of his new album, but for some reason the album was delayed until January, so instead of his original plans he decided to give a solo show. This was quite similar to his style I had really liked last time, although the program was quite different. It lasted for about an hour and a half, many songs paced with the right amount of funny talk.
Divided into two sets, the first had a theme of "foreign songs", either from or inspired from other countries. He played instrumental pieces, one from England, about which he recounted a trip to the the UK where he found an ad for a Van Morrison show, and not knowing what he was getting into he traveled 3 hours by train and couldn't even enter because it was sold out. He also played originals that he wrote thinking of Indonesia and Ireland, places he's never been to.
The 2nd set consisted of more songs usually accompanied with vocals. It started with a song with chords that sound like "The Entertainer" but at some points it turns into something different, I remembered hearing this the last time. Then there was a cover of Modern Choki Chokies' "hatsukoi no oka", actually a cover of a song written by jazz pianist and composer Shibuya Takeshi in 1971 and originally sung by Yuki Saori (hear the original here).
He told about when he lived in Osaka in the 80's and was doing a job where he and a singer were like a delivery band, they would be hired to go to homes around Christmas time and play music at parties of people they didn't know. At first they played Christmas songs but soon they got bored and started playing jazz, guessing that if they said "Merry Christmas" at the end of songs nobody would notice. No one ever complained. :) He did a Ray Charles song that he used to play in those days.
The show closed with an encore of Michael Jackson's "Ben".
Yoshimori Makoto will play another show at the same place on January 15, that time truly celebrating the album release. The show will be a bit different featuring 4 different guests.
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on December 12, 2009 at 01:13 | Tweet
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