Tokyo Big Band
Tokyo Big Band is a Tokyo-based 19-piece jazz ensemble that features prominent international musicians. Jonathan Katz directs, composes, arranges, and plays piano for the group, which he founded in 2008.
TBB’s library includes over 60 original arrangements of original compositions, jazz and popular standards, and most uniquely, Japanese children’s, folk, and popular songs. Japanese people have sung these songs from childhood and enjoy hearing them reworked from a western jazz musician’s perspective. Two French horns add a mellow roundness to the TBB sound. TBB is a hit with first-time jazz listeners, who have come back again and again to augment its core audience.