Saxphonist Benjamin Herman and pianist Mayuko Katakura have met each other at the Tokyo jazz festival 2013. Since then they kept contact, something which now results in a Dutch tour. Herman has written new compositions for this line-up, which consists of Katakura on piano, Thomas Pol on double bass and Joost Patocka on drums, more focused on the ‘straight ahead’ side of his playing.
Mayuko Katakura was young when she left Japan for the United States, where she was selected for the prestigious Thelonious Monk competition. She has lived there for six years and studies at Berkeley and the Juilliard School of Music. She is a very popular jazz pianist in Tokyo and has already released seven albums as a band leader. Benjamin Herman always had a soft spot for Japan. The famous alto player previously recorded an album with his New Cool Collective inspired by Japanese jazz and travels often to Japan to perform.
Benjamin Herman alto sax, Mayuko Katakura piano, Thomas Pol double bass, Joost Patocka drums.