Miho Hazama and m_unit
6pm doors • 7pm show
About
Regarded as a modern-day pillar of the burgeoning big band scene, Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize winner Miho Hazama and her 13-piece jazz chamber orchestra m_unit come to National Sawdust to present work from their new album Dancer in Nowhere.
With pieces like “Today, Not Today”, which slowly unfurls a sweeping cinematic vision, and an interpretation of John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme”, Dancer in Nowhere “veers through frenzied jolts, twists and turns” (Time Out New York).
Catch the composer and big band leader jazz critic Dan Ouellette calls “a vital young artist who is delivering a singular style of music” (Downbeat Magazine) for a night of lush, inviting, large-ensemble jazz.
Conductor: Miho Hazama
Woodwinds: Ethan Helm, Jason Rigby, Andrew Gutauskas
Trumpet: Jonathan Powell
French Horn: Daniel Salera
Violin: Tomoko Akaboshi, Sita Chay
Viola: Matt Consul
Cello: Marta Bagratuni
Vibraphone: James Shipp
Piano: Alex Brown
Bass: Evan Gregor
Drums: Jared Schonig
Tickets
The Artists
Tokyo-born composer Miho Hazama is one of New York’s most astounding young talents. Lauded in DownBeat as one of “25 for the Future”, Miho developed her signature ensemble, a 13-piece jazz chamber orchestra named m_unit. Now having 3 full length releases on Universal Music Japan/Sunnyside Records, Miho has written for and expertly showcased the abilities of guest artists such as Joshua Redman, Lionel Loueke, Stefon Harris, and Gil Goldstein, to name a few. As the 2015 recipient of the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize, she has created works for many different musical contexts. Most notably, she has written compositions/arrangements for Metropole Orkest, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Big Band, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Ashley Bouder Project Ballet Company. In 2017, Miho became the Composer-in-Residence of Siena Wind Orchestra.
Though composition is her true calling, she became the Chief Conductor of the Danish Radio Big Band in 2019 and is also the Associate Artistic Director of the New York Jazzharmonic.
