Contributed by:
John Zwick, YourHub.com
Article Contributed on: 9/16/2008 9:22:21 AM
Chance gets a bad rap sometimes. Get on its bad side and it can seem precarious, unsympathetic -- even conspiratorial. But once in a while, chance delivers on something spectacular, such as with Denver jazz composer and bandleader
Chie Imaizuimi.
It was chance, after all, that put Imaizumi on the keys at an early age in her native Japan.
"My mom grew up on a farm. When she was little, she wanted to play piano, but her parents couldn't afford it," she said. "When she had a daughter or son, she wanted them to play piano." Imaizumi would start on electric organ at age 4 and pursue music throughout her youth and into junior college.
It was chance (and relentless practice) that struck her with tendinitis as she completed her music education at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.
"The doctor said, 'no more,' and those things happen," she said matter-of-factly. That injury pushed Imaizumi to shift her focus to composition - a change she not only doesn't agonize over, but commemorates in her song "For the Better."
And it was chance that led Imaizumi to meet Colorado trumpeter
Greg Gisbert one night in New York.
"It was 2004, I think," she said. "I was living in Boston and some friends decided to go to New York for a girls' night out. We went to see
Maria Schneider. After the show, Greg Gisbert walks by - he was playing in her band. We started talking and realized we have so much in common. I asked him if I could send my demo CD and he could give his honest opinion, but those people never listen to your CD. I've done this with so many people. He listened."
Gisbert, impressed by her expressive songwriting, whipped together a band of local heavyweights including himself, trumpeter
Ron Miles and more - a lineup so solid that Imaizumi's Denver debut was in front of two sold-out crowds.
"In New York, a million people want to do the same thing," she said. "In Denver? Asian, I don't play an instrument, I do big band - everything is so rare. People were saying 'who is this girl? We don't know her.'"
On the back of her successful live debut, the band rushed to the studio to cut her album, 2007's Unfailing Kindness, which was released to good reviews.
Fast-forward to the not-so-distant past, Sept. 14 at Dazzle. (If you read our calendar, you knew about it.) Imaizumi's orchestra didn't have the backing of all the big hitters from the year before, but by now, thanks to reputation and lots of airtime for Unfailing Kindness' single "Round and Round" on KUVO, the room was packed anyway.
Imaizumi makes a big point to share the stories behind her songs and make the show a conversation between the band and the audience, getting whoops and yells, claps and laughter out of the crowd (and especially singer
Rene Marie, also attending) as the band jumps from sound to sound, covering waltzy blues, gypsy-influenced jazz, frenetic bop and other stops along the way
Drummer
Paul Romaine especially holds his own and Imaizumi squeezes every bit of music out of him. The two play off each other expertly and when Romaine lets out his inner clown, he's a perfect fit for Imaizumi's fun-first approach.
The Chie Imaizumi Orhcestra will be back in Denver on Oct. 19 at Dazzle. For more information, go to www.dazzlejazz.com