INDEX
Awakening to the Value of Raising Voice and Their Mission to Uphold “Japanese Jazz'”
– You have been taking on challenges in various fields, and I would like to ask you about SMTK, which stands out from the rest of your activities.
Ishiwaka: Yes, that’s right. I wanted to form a band that plays original music with a strong improvisational flavor, and when I thought that a guitar trio would be good, the face of Toku-chan (Tokutaro Hosoi), who is the same age as me, came to mind. We met when he was working part-time at PIT INN in Shinjuku, and the music we listened to in our youth was very close. I was really excited, wondering what kind of scenery I would see if I played music with him.
I thought, “If we are going to have a trio, Marty (Marty Holoubek) should be the bass player. He is moving to Japan from Australia in 2018, and we had been playing together a lot before that. He fell in love with Japan, and on the day he arrived in Narita, we played a live show with Toku-chan and Marty at “ogikubo velvetsun”, and it was a very memorable performance that heightened many feelings.
photo by kana tarumi
– Kei Matsumaru was the last to join SMTK.
Ishiwaka: When Matsumaru posted about moving his base from the US to Japan, he also posted a video of the trio he led at Berklee. When I saw that, I thought, “Wow! I immediately DM’d him, even though I didn’t know him. My name is Shun Ishiwaka. My name is Shun Ishiwaka, and I would like to know if you are interested in being a guest at my SMT concert. And then, “Yes.
The first time we played together was at Terumasa Hino’s concert before that, and both Marty and Qi jumped in and played together, and I was convinced that this was going to be interesting. Now the three of us are very close in a human sense. After a live concert, we go out or visit each other at home, or when we have a day off, we suddenly call each other and get together to have dinner together, and we find ourselves running up and down the ladder.
– In a previous interview, you said, “As a jazz musician, (Matsumaru) has a message for society as a matter of course, and he has his own way of thinking,” and “Marty Holoubek also makes me aware of such things.”
Ishiwaka: As long as we live, we are faced with things that don’t add up or that we have to think about. Except for a few of my seniors, there were not many people of my generation who had a firm stance on social issues and sublimated it in their statements and works. But when I look around overseas, I see jazz musicians of the same generation doing the same thing, and I think Qi is one of those people for whom this is the norm.
He has lived abroad all his life, so the way he sees the world is a little different from ours. For example, in Japan, he would say, “Hmm? In Japan, for example, there are a lot of cases where people tend to “just go along with it” even if they think something is wrong. They pretend to turn a blind eye to it or leave it in the past. However, Qi always stops and thinks, “What about this? I am very much inspired by this attitude.
– What are the things that draw your attention?
Ishiwaka： What do we want to do, and what do we want to accomplish? How do we take jazz music, which is my background, and put it into our work? I am aware that I am in a position where I have to think about that and that I have responsibilities. After all, I think only about music.
Also, recently, values have changed in many ways, and things that were hidden in the past are often brought to light. I think I have come to take the stance of facing up to these changes and confronting things that I think are “wrong”. In that sense, I have been speaking out more and more recently. I am now over 30 years old, and this feeling has become more and more a part of my life (laughs).
– It’s very important for people in your position to speak up. Even opinions that other people would have squashed may be improved by you speaking up.
Ishiwaka： I guess so. I will keep my eyes on the future.
