JAZU: Jazz from Japan. Interview. Saori Yano

Jazz Convention: According to your profile, your artistic course seems to be have been started in a particular way. Indeed, when you joined your school brass band, at the age of 9, it seems you were more interested in playing flute but eventually you chose alto sax by chance. Can you tell us about this curious beginning?

Saori Yano: Indeed, behind the choice of my instrument there’s a particular story. In my family there were no other musicians. It wasn’t exactly what you would call a “music family”. When I attended the elementary school, like all the children of my age, I joined the school brass band. For some particular reason, in Japan a lot of girls join school brass bands. Me, like most of the girls, wanted to play a little, pretty instrument like flute or clarinet. Because of this, it was decided that the choice of instruments would have been decided by playing at “Rock-Paper-Scissors”. Eventually, the game ended up with me losing and choosing the alto sax.



JC: You discovered Charlie Parker through listening to bass player Jaco Pastorius’ rendition of Donna Lee. What did you feel and think when you first listened to his recordings? What fascinated you the most about this icon of jazz?


SY: The first time I listened to his music, I thought it was something unique and revolutionary. It was a radical, high quality music, something I’ve never heard before, able to express all the inner feelings of those playing it. Inside of it there were rules and transgression, energy and rage. At that time I was interested in music genres as hard core and hip hop, usually provided with a big amount of energy. Bebop, instead, is fundamentally an instrumental music, whose name doesn’t make you think about something special or revolutionary. Yet, the music of Charlie Parker could reach incredible speed and, despite it was wordless, hit me like a bullet.



JC: After that, your interest for Bird and jazz grown bigger and bigger. At such a young age, how hard was practicing on alto saxophone and playing bebop aiming to Charlie Parker as your reference point?


SY: I worked especially on Charlie Parker’s intonation. Usually I don’t think about how things can be hard.



JC: At the age of 14, inspired by Billie Holiday’s autobiography, you started self-promoting yourself trying to find gigs in the jazz clubs. How hard was to convince club owners that also a young girl like you could be a good bebop player? Until today, how things are changed compared to that time for women who plays jazz in Japan?


SY: At that age, soon after starting the middle school, I got into a troubled and rebellious period of my life. I didn’t want to go to school anymore and spent all my time in Shibuya (a famous Tokyo’s commercial area) without coming back home. Of course, my parents couldn’t stand my behavior for a long time so one day they told me: «If you don’t want to go to school anymore, go finding you a job!». That’s when I thought: «If that’s so, why not turning my love for jazz into my job?».
That was the beginning of a long period of hard times and mistakes for me. I wandered in Tokyo, looking for gigs in the clubs, always taking with me a copy of Billie Holiday’s autobiography. At that time I wasn’t so confident in myself, but eventually I came up with the idea that potentially everything can be achieved. In every jazz club that I came trough, except those I contacted by phone, the door was slammed into my face. I think it was an understandable attitude towards a girl that nobody knew. I felt shattered. Reality wasn’t exactly what I expected. Then, after more than one hundred attempts, the owner of a jazz café called Cafe Clair finally told me: «Come on, show what you’re able to do!» In Japan today there are a lot of wonderful female musicians and other continue to make their debut. I’m really happy about this!



JC: Thanks to your excellent first live performances a fast word of mouth soon led you to your homonym first recording in 2003 for renowned Savoy, becoming the second Japanese artist recording for this label. At that time, what did this record represent for you?


SY: After all these years from my debut album, many stupid things come in my mind about it: «I should have done it better…» or «Listening to it again is embarrassing for me…» But, thinking about it now, it was a precious recording because it allowed me to get rid of that part of me, at that time I was only sixteen, that used to associate with people older than me acting like them, pretending not to be under pressure.



JC: With 02 (2004), your 2nd album, you started a long series of American recordings which allowed you to join and perform with some of the great American jazz legends. When you first traveled to the land of jazz, how was your impression of American musicians and American audience compared to Japanese jazz scene?


SY: The first time I visited America was at the age of 15. When I recorded my second album it was the second time for me to be there. During my first trip to New York, I went alone to Harlem to play in a session with other musicians. The audience, though surprised by my presence, appreciated my performance, but the musicians weren’t that gentle with me. Probably the poor technical skills I was provided at that time were to be blamed, but my wish to play with such talented musicians, even if unfriendly to me, was what pushed me to be there.



JC: You had the opportunity to perform with the legendary Miles Davis’s in a Silent way’s drummer Jimmy Cobb. Mr.Cobb accompanied you on your 3rd album Sakura Stamp’s tour and in 2005 you also recorded your 1st live album with him at Smoke, a famous jazz club in New York. How was your experience with this master of jazz, who renamed you “The Japanese Cannon Adderley”?


SY: Jimmy was a really humble and little shy person. It was a very nice person with me.



JC: Let’s talk about your latest release called Answer. How come you chose this title for this album?


SY: This recording is my answer to some tunes requested by my fans, and selected from my discography, which I collected trough a poll and rearranged for this album.



JC: How is your relation with your fans on and out of the stage?


SY: Basically, I think that my music is something that once come out of my instrument no longer belongs to me, but it belongs to the people that came to listen to me. I always think about it: when I’m having a drink, before going to bed, while eating, while I whisper or when I relax with my arms folded. It’s something difficult to explain with words…



JC: Answer also celebrates your ten years of career as a recording artist. The presence of trumpet master Terumasa Hino, featured as a special guest in a couple of tunes, is like ice on your birthday’s cake. How was the experience of recording with this legend of Japanese jazz?


SY: I think that Terumasa Hino is provided with amazing technical skills and deep sensibility enriched by an incredible spirituality. He always look to the music as a whole, without any boundaries. One day he told me: «When I don’t find any inspiration for my music and I got plenty of it, I leave all behind me and think: – Great! It’s time to have a break! -. In moment like these, I go to eat whatever I want, play golf and once I get tired I go to bed and think – What a pleasant life! – . Indeed, when I have many ideas in my mind, I feel tremendously busy!» This statement was pretty impressive for me.



JC: Saxophonist James Moody has been you master and mentor for a while and represented an important step in your artistic apprenticeship. You celebrated the late American jazz master in your last album with the tune Moody’s Mood for Love in which you also dedicated spoken words of gratitude at the end of it. Which are your memories about him and which are the most important things he taught to you personally and musically?


SY: During the lessons he could be very strict, but he always knew how to amuse the people. As my teacher, he always took care about me and often talked about the importance and difficulty of living a long life like his. He always told me: «If you will manage to play as if you were talking and talking as if you were playing, then you will be a great jazz player!»



JC: Which are the benefits in being a self-taught player like you?


SY: Always playing in a true and honest way.



JC: Many are the standards selected for this album. What’s your relation with these immortal compositions of jazz history?


SY: Many years have passed since I started to play jazz, but it’s as if I have always been playing standards. Other than jazz, I also like reggae, hip hop and funky, but somehow I ended up playing jazz. I don’t know well the reason why.



JC: In Answer there’s also room for original compositions like the roaring title track Answer or Suna to Skato (“Sand and Skirt” in Japanese) which has been recorded many times in your previous album. Is there a particular story behind the choice of this title?


SY: Suna to Sukato is a tune I wrote when I was 14. After the first recording, during a tour with Alex Cuba Band, who I joined at their invitation, I decided to add some lyrics to it and recorded it the second time. This time, due to many requests from my fans, I recorded it once again. It’s a tune that helped me to get in touch with many people because it tells about the desire of growing older soon.



JC: Nowadays you live in Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japanese archipelago. Why did you decide to move so far from Tokyo’s intense jazz scene?


SY: I moved after one big earthquake hit the Tokyo area. This happening made me think about things I’ve never thought before and led me to put things on a personal scale of values. Of course, this relocation was not an easy choice for me.



JC: In Answer you played a rendition of the famous movie Taxi Driver’s theme, which featured Tom Scott on saxophone. This made me think about which could be your other interests aside from jazz?


SY: The movie Taxi Driver is one of my favourite and since the beginning I have always been playing its theme during my live shows. Aside from music, I’m also an avid reader since I was a child. I like Japanese writer like Dazai Osamu, Endo Shusaku and Edogawa Ranpo, authors well known also outside of Japan. Moreover, I’m also a fan of Stephen King.



JC: What’s your opinion about the nowadays situation of jazz scene in Japan?


SY: Jazz culture in Japan is mature, but struggles to get into the life of people who are not specifically jazz lovers. Maybe, if jazz could turn a little more “pop” it would be easier, but at the same time I also understand the reason why this doesn’t happen.



JC: Until today you tried different things and sets. In your 5th album Groovin’ High sessions you had the opportunity to play with some members of Dizzy Gillespie All Stars such as Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Heath and Randy Brecker; In 2007’s Little Tiny you joined veteran organ player Dr. Lonnie Smith and in your 2008’s Billie Holiday’s tribute, entitled Gloomy Sunday, you were backed up by a string section. Among your recordings, which are the albums you love the most?


SY: In all of my albums I’ve always had the prestigious members I was looking for. Each time I’m working on a new album, I challenge myself thinking «This could be my last recording!» Anyway, I think I wouldn’t record an album with strings again.



JC: Which is the set or project you would like to try next?


SY: I think I will end up putting everything together: some tunes from musical Chorus Line, something Cuban or Latin, occasionally reggae, but mainly bebop. I can’t wait to it!