"The Silk Road, Jazz and Modern Sounds from Spain to Japan: How Ancient Trade Routes Continue to Connect Asia and the West"
Experience an unforgettable journey through global music with the Aeolian Trio on Thursday April 17, 2025 at the Northcountry Zen Garden. "The Silk Road, Jazz and Modern Sounds from Spain to Japan," brings together the extraordinary talents of shakuhachi master and California native Bruce Huebner, New York-based Japanese guitarist Shu Odamura, and percussion virtuoso Todd Isler, whose expertise spans South Asian and Middle Eastern rhythms. Join us for a dynamic blend of traditional, jazz, and contemporary influences, showcasing the seamless connections between cultures and the universal language of music.
About the Aeolian Trio
The shakuhachi, a Japanese traditional bamboo flute that is rooted in Zen Buddhism, meets the guitar, a Spanish folk instrument that became a giant of jazz, rock and pop. In ancient times the shakuhachi was carried from the Middle East to Japan on the fabled Silk Road. Meanwhile, the guitar springs from flamenco and Renaissance traditions, and has antecedents in the Middle Eastern Oud. These seemingly disparate traditions separated by a two continents spring from the same cradle of civilization.
Now, centuries later, in California, Tokyo, and New York, Japanese guitarist Shu Odamura and shakuhachi master Bruce Huebner join New York-based percussionist Todd Isler to reunite these ancient traditions and bring them into the Twenty First Century. In their concert we hear how the melisma and phrygian “Spanish” mode is answered by the nuances of the Japanese miyako mode of the Zen bamboo flute, and how the rich rhythmic traditions of South and Central Asia underpin the fusion.