Mark Izu

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Mark George Izu (born September 30, 1954 in Solano County , California ) is an American jazz musician ( bass , mouth organs ) and film composer .

Live and act

Izu is a third-generation Japanese-American who has worked in the music scene of the Asian American Jazz Movement in San Francisco since the 1970s . From the 1970s on he played the Shō and appeared in 1976 with the Japanese musician Suenobu Togi . He graduated from San Francisco State University ; During his studies he played with the saxophonist Lewis Jordan in the Blue Dolphin Club . With the trumpeter George Sams and the drummer Anthony Brown they formed the formation United Front , which also performed at European jazz festivals in the 1980s. The group recorded five albums between 1979 and 1990. From 1989 Izu was the artistic director of the Asian-American Jazz Festival in San Francisco. With Zakir Hussain he produced the program The New Silk Road for the San Francisco Jazz Festival in 1996 .

In the course of his career he played a. a. with Cecil Taylor , George Lewis , James Newton and Karl Berger ; he also worked with his own formations such as the J-Town Jazz Ensemble with Anthony Brown and Jon Jang and the Mark Izu Bass Quartet with Lisle Ellis . In 1991 his debut album Circle of Fire ( Asian Improv ) was released. In the field of jazz, Izu participated in 28 recording sessions between 1979 and 2010; In addition to the bass, he also played Sheng , Shō , mouth organ and Namwu .

As a composer he wrote a. a. the live score for the Sessue Hayakawa silent film The Dragon Painter (1919), as well as the music for films such as Wayne Wang's Dim Sum Take Out (1988) and Steven Okazaki's film Days of Waiting (1990). He starred in Alan Parker's melodrama Come and See Paradise (1990).

Discographic notes

  • United Front - Ohm: Unit of Resistance (RPM, 1981)
  • Mark Izu / Lewis Jordan The Travels of a Zen Baptist (RPM 1988)
  • Last Dance (2002)
  • Mermaid Meat (2007)
  • Threading Time (2007)
  • Dragon Painter (2007)
  • Legend of Morning Glory (2010)
  • Navarasa: Duets for Shakuhachi & Contrabass (2010)

Filmography (selection)

  • 1989: Outside In Sight: The Music of the United Front (Directors: Greg Chapnick and Sharon Wood)
  • 1994: Notes on a Scale (Director: Kenn Kashima)
  • 2006: Dave Tatsuno: Movies and Memories (Director: Scott Gracheff)
  • 2007: Ibéria (Director: Eddy Falconer)
  • 2008: Bolinao 52 (Director: Huu Duc Nguyen)
  • 2012: Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful (Director: Yuriko Gamo Romer)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For details on Mark George Izu, “California, Birth Index, 1905-1995” - FamilySearch.org. In: familysearch.org. Accessed December 31, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Tom Lord Jazz Discography
personal data
SURNAME Izu, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Izu, Mark George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Solano County