International Composers' Night with the Tim Armacost/Yutaka Shiina Special Quartet

This event is presented by River Spirit Music.

From riverspiritmusic.blogspot.com:

Hastings' resident, Tim Armacost, has led a life of constant motion. He has gathered knowledge and experience around the globe, which forms the foundation of his passionate brand of jazz. After landing in New York in 1993, Armacost quickly established his presence as a leader, releasing his first two albums, "Fire" (Concord) and "Live at Smalls" (Double Time) to critical acclaim. His hard hitting third release, "The Wishing Well," (Double Time) announced the arrival of Armacost's working unit, featuring Bruce Barth, Ray Drummond, and Billy Hart. The group has completed seven successful tours in Europe, the US and Asia, working with sponsors Northwest Airlines, Marriott Hotels and Volkswagen, and followed up with an inspired second recording, "Brightly Dark." (Satchmo Records). The group's latest release, "Rhythm and Transformation," (ArtistShare 0064) features the quartet augmented by Ray Spiegel playing Tabla, and the great Eddie Henderson on trumpet. Working with his quartet, Ali Jackson's group Hornz in the Hood with fellow saxophonists Craig Handy and Ravi Coltrane, with the cooperative group New York Standards Quartet, and co-leading and composing for the Brooklyn Big Band with Craig Bailey, Armacost is now seriously in the mix. 

Armacost's career is already distinguished by performance and recording credits alongside the likes of Al Foster, Jimmy Cobb, Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Peter Erskine, Ray Drummond, Roy Hargrove, Paquito D'Rivera, Claudio Roditi, Bruce Barth, Dave Kikoski, Don Friedman, Lonnie Plaxico, Robin Eubanks, Charlie Shoemake, Pete Christlieb, Randy Brecker, Akira Tana, Valery Ponomarev, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and the David Murray Big Band. He has toured throughout East and West Europe, Japan, India, Australia, China and the United States.

Throughout twenty-five years of frequent traveling to Japan, Tim Armacost has developed a deep and special relationship with its people. He is a fluent speaker of Japanese, which he studied as an exchange student at Waseda University, and is an active student of Japanese culture and religion. His performances there have included such great musicians as Terumasa and Motohiko Hino, Fumio Karashima, Nobuyoshi Ino, Fumio Itabashi, Shingo Okudaira, Benisuke Sakai, Kiyoto Fujiwara, and Yutaka Shiina.

Yutaka Shiina is an extremely gifted pianist with a sensitive touch, rich profound piano sound and exceptional ability to create original compositions. These high qualities as a jazz musician make him an in demand pianist and consistent poll winner on the Japanese jazz scene.

Yutaka has played with a virtual Who's Who in the jazz world - Roy Hargrove, The Jazz Networks, Reginald Veal, Herlin Riley, Nicholas Payton, Elvin Jones, David Grossman, Christian McBride, Clarence Penn, Rodney Whitaker, Cyrus Chestnut, Gregory Hutchinson, John Swana, Tim Armacost, Jason Jackson, Robert Hurst, Lionel Boccara, Gene Jackson, Joris Teepe and Lew Tabackin, hust to name a few.

Yutaka Shiina is proving to be one of Japan's most internationally active and recognized musicians.