The First Note On The Horn – The Misty Urban Rain
Welcome to the second part of The First Note On The Horn series from the sizzling music scene of Tokyo. Ai Mitsuda takes us to the backstage with Kuni, the talented trumpetist of Sly Mongoose. Read the first part of the story Tokyo Burning here.
Throwing a glance out the window, a misty rain was falling. We met Kuni again this time in Daikanyama, center of Tokyo, where he has spent most of his life since his childhood. At close range, he played a bit of blues for us. Now, after a long thunderstorm with no end in sight, we feel like to surrender to a misty rain, seeping into the cell, flowing into peripheral vessels through out the body. Our body trembles to the compound time of the misty urban rain that cocoons us in floaty bliss.
Even if you have a beautiful lady horn in front of you, you cannot make a decent sound over night. Being a trumpet player is like being an athlete; the sound cannot be produced correctly until the embouchure (the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of the woodwind and brass instruments) is well established. Take a big breath, make your lips buzz, grow images of tone in your brain… be on the road until you discover your own voice.
In 1982, when Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers came to Tokyo, the 12 years-old boy was literally overwhelmed by the play of Terence Blanchard, which gave him enough courage to meet the celebrated trumpeter at the backstage. “Terence was just amazing… Warm, soulful, with fire yet soft, full of intelligence.”
In the following years, he frequented the backstage when the group came to Tokyo. Once he brought his father’s horn, Mt. Vernon Bach, Terence played that very horn on the stage that night. The excitement made the little boy even bring around his master to his favorite jazz café swing in Shibuya, where they had a large archive of old jazz albums and videos. “I was eager to show Terence the ’61 live of Art Blakey with Lee Morgan, ” Kuni explained. Naturally, the voice of Terence Blanchard seeped into the brain tissue of Kuni. By coincidence or not, later it led to a beautiful surprise to be part of his team. (…to be continued.)
Ai Mitsuda
