Until relativity recently, women jazz musicians - excluding female vocalists - were a rarity. Pianists Lil Hardin, Lorraine Geller, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and trombonist Melba Liston were exceptions. Today, women have come to occupy an ever larger territory within what was formerly a male bastion. Drummers Cindy Blackman and Terri Lyn Carrington, bassist Kim Clarke, pianists Geri Allen, Marilyn Crispell, and Aki Takase, vocalists Cassandra Wilson and Maria Joao, Japanese alto saxophonist Sachi Hayasaka, tenor saxophonists Erica Lindsay and Sibylle Pomorin, guitarists Emily Remler and Nana Simoupolos are diverse examples of the growing number of women who are making their influences felt within the music.
In 1981, George Gruntz asked me to fly to Tokyo with him to help put together a Japanese program for the Berlin Jazz Festival. I thus had the opportunity to hear Aki Takase for the first time. She was playing with tenor saxophonist Akira Miyazawa's quartet in the Junk Jazzclub, located in the Ginza quarter of Tokyo. I Should say, by the way, that my friends Dr. Uchida, Yosuke Yamashita and Hideki Sato had suggested earlier that I go hear Aki. The next night Aki played with the same quartet in the Taro jazz club, at that time situated in the Shinjuku section of Tokyo. I brought George Gruntz to the concert, and we decided that same evening to invite Aki, along with the rhythm section of her choosing, to Berlin. The concert is documented on the lp Song for Hope (enjoy 4012). In 1982 I organized a solo tour for Aki, during which she performed at the East-West Jazz Festival in Nuremberg. The results can be heard on her lp Perdido (enjoy 4034). Since then, I've arranged tours for Aki in duo, in a trio setting which included bassist Cecil McBee, and in quartet.
It was at the 1986 Leipzig festival, during a duo tour with bassist Nobuyoshi Ino, that Aki first heard Maria Joao. I had been at Chris McGregor' solo piano concert that afternoon, and had no desire to hear a second concert that evening. Aki and Nobuyoshi talked so enthusiastically about Maria that I suspected something special could be in the offset. So it was that Aki had the idea to form the duo with Maria Joao. From this proceeded a series of duo tours produced by the Bremen - based management firm of Pete Mau, along with a Japanese tour organized by Aki. It was also Aki's idea to expand the duo, with the addition of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, to trio. Aki once again demonstrated unerring musical judgement. In October, 1990, the new trio undertook a 4 week tour of Norway, initiated by the Norwegian government. At the end of the Norwegian tour, the trio traveled to Nuremberg and the East-West Jazz Festival, where the audience enthusiastically greeted their performance with standing ovations. Here are the results. - Horst Weber, Munich, April, 1991 (translated by Marty Cook)
Tracks
01. MC (Walter Schätzlein)
2a. S. JOAO (traditional are. By Maria Joao)
2b. QUINTA DAS TORRINHAS (Peixoto)
03. DR. BEAT (Aki Takase)
04. MAE-DOU-IHO NAO (Maria Joao)
05. YORIDORI MIDORI (Andreas Schmidt)
06. OLD FOLKS (Dedate Lee Hill)
07. PRESTO V.H. (Aki Takase)
08. PRIMACCINI (Aki Takase / Maria Joao)
09. ALICE (Aki Takase / Maria Joao)
10. WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD (George Douglas / George Weiss)
MARIA JOAO vocal
AKI TAKASE piano
NIELS-HENNING ØRSTED PEDERSEN bass
Recorded live at the Jazz Ost-West Festival Nürnberg, Tafelhalle Nuremberg, October 28th, 1990
Enja Records – enja CD 6096-2