Mai Sugimoto with Anton Hatwich
Friday, November 9 at 7:30 pm
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“As improvisers, anything and everything can be an inspiration: the sounds we create on our instruments, the acoustics of the room, the surroundings. Our core inspiration is in each moment.” — Mai Sugimoto

For this performance, Mai Sugimoto (saxophone) and Anton Hatwich (bass) will be performing a few completely improvised pieces as they draw inspirations from the acoustics of the room and moods.

Mai Sugimoto is a Japanese born saxophonist and composer living in Chicago, IL. As a child growing up in suburban Tokyo, Sugimoto was surrounded by her dad’s record collection. This soundtrack to her childhood, everything from classical to Motown to jazz, was seminal in her early development. She still remembers the moment that changed everything: hearing Eric Dolphy’s At the Five Spot for the first time.

Fast forward to the present and one can find Sugimoto playing her own saxophone, striving for the same musical magic that moved her to be a musician in the first place. She performs frequently throughout the Chicagoland area and is a member of Hanami, a quartet that features her original work and arrangements of Japanese music.
 
She has also performed with the great Chicago bassist Tatsu Aoki and his projects: a collaboration of Japanese traditional instruments and improvisational music. Sugimoto credits this experience for moving her to want to rediscover her Japanese roots and the nostalgic sounds she grew up with.
 
Sugimoto draws additional inspiration from Lennie Tristano and his improvisational approach, 90’s and early 00’s J-pop, the Beatles, Glenn Gould, and the creative music scene of Chicago. She continues to channel these inspirations and others into writing for her new quartet which she debuted in 2016. The debut album of Sugimoto's quartet music will be released in November of 2018.

Bassist, composer, and improviser Anton Hatwich has lived in Chicago since 2003. He was born and raised in Rockford, IL, growing up in a musical family. Anton moved to Iowa City, IA in 1995 and lived there until 2002, earning a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Iowa. After graduation, Hatwich taught for two years as Visiting Artist in Music at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA. At the UI he studied bass with Dr. Diana Gannett, jazz and improvisation with John Rapson, and also gained valuable experience playing with the school’s renown Center for New Music, under the direction of David Gompper. Outside of class, Anton was active in the local music scene. Of particular lasting importance was his work with clarinettist, saxophonist, and composer Robert Paredes, with whom Anton took first steps in the world of free improvisation.

In late 2002 Hatwich started spending large amounts of time amongst Chicago’s improvised music community, hanging out all night with his new friends at concerts and bars, and crashing on his brother’s couch. One thing led to another, and by spring of 2003 he was playing so much in Chicago that it made sense to move there. Since that time he has played in endlessly varied groups of (mostly) improvising musicians, with some combinations sticking around longer than others. A partial list of his collaborators includes Frank Rosaly, Keefe Jackson, Aram Shelton, Nick Mazzarella, Russ Johnson, Tim Daisy, Jason Stein, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Josh Berman, and Paul Giallorenzo. With the bands that lasted, Anton has recorded a number of critically acclaimed albums and toured nationally and internationally. He has appeared at a handful of the major jazz festivals, including the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Ring Ring Festival in Belgrade, the Umbrella Festival, and the Ulrichsberger Kaleidophon Festival in Austria.

In addition to his performance work, Anton maintains a small private teaching studio.
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Mai Sugimoto will also be performing at the 23rd Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival on November 17.  For a $25 pass to BOTH the A-Squared Asian American Performing Arts Festival and the 23rd Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, click the button below.