17th Tokyo JAZZ

Orquesta de la Luz (オルケスタ・デ・ラ・ルス) ("Orchestra of the Light") is a Japanese salsa band that was formed in 1984 and began performing and recording in 1990. The band sings in Spanish and is led by vocalist Nora, who returned to traditional salsa after the band broke up in the mid-1990s.
It became widely famous in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, Puerto Rico, Panama, Mexico, Perú and other Caribbean area countries. The Japanese salsa band Orquesta de La Luz was quite a large one, whose main focal point (and only consistent member throughout their tenure together) was singer Nora.
Throughout the years, Nora was joined by a rotating cast of musicians in the group, including Gen Ogimi, percussion; Carlos Kanno, percussion; Genichi Egawa, timbales; Gen Date, conga; Hiroshi Sawada, bass; Satoru Shoinoya, piano, keyboards; Shiro Sasaki, trumpet; Tatsuya Shimogami, trumpet; Yoshihito Fukumoto, trumpet; Hideaki Nakaji, trombone; and Taisei Aoki, trombone, while co-producer/arranger Sergio George contributed keyboards from time to time.
The group built a substantial following in their homeland during the early to mid-'90s (with such releases as 1990's Orquesta de La Luz, 1991's Sin Fronteras, and 1992's Somos Diferentes), before switching their sound primarily to jazz and ballads. By 1995, Orquesta de La Luz had broken up, with Nora launching a solo career shortly thereafter (and returning to her former band's early salsa sound).

The Manhattan Transfer is a jazz vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a capella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music.

In 1981, the Manhattan Transfer made music history by becoming the first group to win Grammy awards for both popular and jazz categories in the same year. "The Boy from New York City", a cover of the 1965 success by The Ad Libs, reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and won them the award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and "Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)" earned them a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group.

In September 1983, the group released the album Bodies and Souls, with an urban-contemporary style which resulted in two R&B chart singles. The first was the No. 2 hit "Spice of Life", which was co-written by former Heatwave member Rod Temperton who had penned several hits for Michael Jackson. The single also reached No. 40 on the US pop chart and No. 19 in the UK. The other single, the ballad "Mystery" (#80 R&B, No. 102 Pop), was later covered by Anita Baker on her 1986 album Rapture.

In 1985, the group released two albums; the first was Bop Doo-Wopp, which included both live and studio recordings, and the second was Vocalese, which received twelve Grammy nominations—at the time making it second only to Michael Jackson's Thriller as the most nominated single album ever. The group won in two categories: Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group, and Best Arrangement for Voices. This was followed by a live recording of many of these songs titled Live. This concert, recorded in Japan, was also released on VHS and DVD, later titled Vocalese Live.

For their next album, Brasil (1987), the group headed south to work with Brazilian songwriters and musicians Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, Djavan and Gilberto Gil. Brasil won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

The group did not release any studio albums again until 1991, when they signed with the Sony Music label and released The Offbeat of Avenues, featuring original material written or co-written by members of the quartet. Their efforts brought them their 10th Grammy award, for the song "Sassy". This was followed by the release of their first holiday album entitled The Christmas Album in 1992.

Switching back to Atlantic Records as their distributor, they released Tonin' (a collection of R&B and popular successes from the 1960s), The Manhattan Transfer Meets Tubby the Tuba (a children's album), and their 1997 album Swing which covered 1930s-era swing music. Their final album for Atlantic was The Spirit of St. Louis in 2000, dedicated to the music of Louis Armstrong. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.

In 2011, while receiving treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma, Cheryl Bentyne was replaced on stage for eight months by the soprano Margaret Dorn; Dorn replaced her again December 2013 (followed by Katie Campbell in early 2014) while Bentyne underwent further treatment. Tim Hauser was absent from the stage in 2013 and early 2014 as he recovered from spinal surgery; he was replaced on stage by bass/baritone Trist Curless of the a cappella group m-pact.

In September 2013, one of the original members of the group, Erin Dickins, started a Kickstarter campaign to re-record "Java Jive" with the surviving original members. It featured Tim Hauser's scat musings, as well as a vocal arrangement by Marty Nelson - sung by Dickins, Nelson, Hauser and Gene Pistilli. The project was successfully funded on October 9, 2013 and released on the CD "Java Jive" on Dot Time Records. Original member Pat Rosalia died from cancer in July 2011. Tim Hauser died of cardiac arrest on October 16, 2014.

Following Hauser's death, the group announced Curless would replace him.

Buena Vista Social Club is an ensemble of Cuban musicians established in 1996 to revive the music of pre-revolutionary Cuba. The project was organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González. They named the group after the homonymous members' club in the Buenavista quarter of Havana, a popular music venue in the 1940s. To showcase the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, many of whom had been retired for years.
The group's eponymous album was recorded in March 1996 and released in September 1997, quickly becoming an international success, which prompted the ensemble to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam and New York in 1998. German director Wim Wenders captured the performance on film for a documentary—also called Buena Vista Social Club—that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders' film was released in June 1999 to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards. This was followed up by a second documentary: Buena Vista Social Club: Adios in 2017.
The success of both the album and film sparked a revival of interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general. Some of the Cuban performers later released well-received solo albums and recorded collaborations with stars from different musical genres. The "Buena Vista Social Club" name became an umbrella term to describe these performances and releases, and has been likened to a brand label that encapsulates Cuba's "musical golden age" between the 1930s and 1950s. The new success was fleeting for the most recognizable artists in the ensemble: Compay Segundo, Rubén González, and Ibrahim Ferrer, who died at the ages of ninety-five, eighty-four, and seventy-eight respectively; Compay Segundo and González in 2003, then Ferrer in 2005.

Schedule & Ticket

Place information

• NHK Hall
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  Address

  日本、〒150-8001 東京都渋谷区神南２丁目２−１  Map

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