Guest Artist Biographies John Abercrombie 67 While a Berklee student, guitarist John Abercrombie met organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith, and took a gig with him, working seven nights a week at a club called the Big M. Around that time, he had occasion to hear both Jack McDuff’s band, and Tony Williams’ Lifetime band. George Benson H’90 had the guitar spot in McDuff’s band, and Pat Martino replaced him. Both guitarists were about the same age as Abercrombie at the time—17 or 18. The jazz/rock Lifetime outfit, with John McLaughlin and Larry Young, shook Abercrombie first for its loudness, later for its innovations. The young guitarists in McDuff’s band inspired him for their accom- plished playing. And the gig with Johnny Smith threw him “right into the fire,” for which the organ now figures as “the great common denomi- nator” in his life. Since Berklee, Abercrombie has pushed musical boundaries, while keeping con- nected to the traditional formats which triggered his interest in jazz. He performed in the early jazz-rock group Dreams, played pop with Friends, fusion with Billy Cobham, free-jazz with Jack DeJohnette, and classical and world rooted jazz with Ralph Towner. He has worked with Chico Hamilton, John Scofield *73, Bill Evans ’86, Gato Barbieri, George Mraz ’70, McCoy Tyner, Paul Bley, and Dave Holland. Timeless, his first record- ing as a leader in 1973, and its follow-up 10 years later, Night, featured organist Jan Hammer 69, along with Jack DeJohnette H’90 and Michael Brecker (on the latter record). He reformed his band Gateway with DeJohnette and Dave Holland, which completed a recent tour and record, slated release this year. The John Abercrombie trio, h Peter Erskine H’92 on drums and bassist wre Johnson, has recorded Current Events, There, and November for ECM. His tation on guitar synthesizer, which he d into the trio recordings, included an ano duet for Richie Beirach’s [67] rald City. Abercrombie has since aban- ned the synthesizer and returned his attention the instruments and format which inspire him— itar, organ, and drums. Abercrombie’s organ rio, with Hammond B-3 specialist Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum, debuted in 1993 with While We’re Young, and Speak of the Devil was released last year. Toshiko Akiyoshi °59 The year after she and her family fled Manchuria for Japan, at the end of World War II and the start of the Chinese Communist Revolution, pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi auditioned for a dance hall band. She played Beethoven’s no. 3, for the leader, an ex-Navy B and violinist. He asked her to start play whatever she could; he would chord symbols, which she had never seen Though Akiyoshi didn’t care for t band paid well, and she practiced club’s piano—her parents had bee abandon their instrument. Akiyos recalls the Japanese man who cam night and told her that, with a littl could become the best jazz pianist Island. But, when the record colle Teddy Wilson’s “Sweet “that was it.” She tr Willie Smith, lead a James band, and ** Akiyoshi was leading quartet, featuring Sadao Watanabe "65. She ranked among Japan’s most accomplished performers, band leaders, stu- dio musicians, and arrangers. Oscar Peterson H’84 introduced Akiyoshi to producer Norman Granz, who began writing about her for Metronome and Downbeat and in 1953 released Norman Granz Presents Toshiko. Encouraged by Boston musician Tony Teixiera '60, who heard her band, Akiyoshi wrote to Berklee founder and Chancellor Lawrence Berk. On the recommenda- tions of Peterson and Granz, Berk offered her full scholarship to Berklee and a ticket to America. Akiyoshi took advantage of the long awaited opportunity to play with American jazz musicians, performing regularly at Storyville and sitting in with the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Duke Ellington H’71. Storyville owner, George Wein H’76, also presented Akiyoshi at the Newport Jazz Festival, which he first produced in 1954. The Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band, cofound- ed in Los Angeles with her husband, saxophonist Lew Tabackin, in 1973, established Akiyoshi as a bandleader and foremost jazz composer. The ensemble has recorded Kogun, Top of the Gate, and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra Carnegie Hall Concert. Akiyoshi has released more than 50 albums, earned 11 Grammy nominations, and con- sistently topped the jazz music polls. She is the subject of Renée Cho’s film documentary Jazz Is My Native Language.