If the Skatalites had met Sun Ra

…playing the repertoire of Frank Zappa as well as Fletcher Henderson then the result may have sounded like Shibusashirazu Orchestra. Kinetic, theatrical and spectacular – Shibusashirazu’ electrifying shows are an experience like no other.

Shibusashirazu (SHEE-BOO-SAH SHEE-RAH-ZOO) is a Japanese phrase meaning “Never be cool”. As the name says, the band doesn’t stay within the “cool” frame of jazz big bands. Although based on jazz featuring improvisation, its music reaches over into romantic Japanese “kayo(pop)” songs, rock, funk, ska, Latin, trance and Balkan beats.

Hailing from Japan, the ensemble is a shifting community of players, and the numbers vary from 20 to 40, often with a substantial horn section sending some of the arrangements right off the Richter scale and into deepest, darkest space. The ethos is taken seriously by founder and conductor Daisuke Fuwa, who has brought together players from “Tokyo Avant-Garde”, classical, jazz and punk scenes to perform under his riotous marquee. In fact, Shibusashirazu’ commitment to the dramatic arts has seen the band bring in a number of actors, Go-Go dancers, Butoh dancers and performance artists to give an intensely theatrical edge to concerts that have been the talk of major European festivals like Glastonbury, Molde, North Sea and San Sebastian.


http://shibusa.net/