Brenda Wong Aoki & Mark Izu’s Kabuki Cabaret Screaming Jazz & Haunting Performance October 28, 2011

Blending Noh and Kyogen dramatic performance with thundering Taiko, under a cascade of contemporary koto steeped with jazz, this Kabuki Cabaret will further tantalize the audience with a program of traditional Japanese ghost legends.Veterans on the avante garde music and theater scene, writer/actor Brenda Wong Aoki, and her long time creative partner bassist/composer Mark Izu, a seminal force on the Asian-American jazz scene, bring together the best of the best - Grammy nominated multi-percussionist Dr. Anthony Brown, natori koto master Shoko Hikage, Mas Koga 2010 Best Latin Jazz flutist, vocalist Moy Eng and Janet Koike with PJ Hirabayashi on Taiko. Stories include:
The Soul of the Great Bell, a traditional Chinese legend of a mighty emperor and the ghost of a young girl imprisoned in a temple bell; and Travelings, musical musings on real hauntings in Chinatown, Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Bay.

Kabuki Jazz Cabarets were conceived and created by Aoki and Izu, who have developed a symbiotic blend of east and west, spoken word and music. Mark Izu, an Emmy Award-winning jazz composer, studied and performed Gagaku (Japanese Imperial music) with master Togi Suenobu for over twenty years. Writer/performer Brenda Wong Aoki is a student of Noh and Kyogen and a three-time NEA Theater Fellow. She is one of the premiere storytellers in America and an award-winning playwright recognized for her multidisciplinary works combining contemporary monodrama with traditional arts.
(Please see www.brendawongaoki.com)