Sullivan Fortner – Solo Piano Live in Tokyo
Known for his dazzling technique, soulful touch, and genre-crossing brilliance, Fortner has collaborated with legends like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Roy Hargrove, and Samara Joy—whose Grammy-winning 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Me' features his playing. A former protégé of Fred Hersch, Fortner is now widely regarded as one of the most important jazz pianists of his generation.
This intimate solo set will showcase music from his acclaimed two-disc project Solo Game and Wildflowers Vol.1 (with Kurt Elling), alongside selections from his latest album Southern Nights, which blends jazz with R&B classics by Allen Toussaint and Bill Lee.
Whether you're a jazz purist or a newcomer to the scene, this is a rare opportunity to experience the full range of Fortner's expressive, storytelling pianism—live and up close.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
4 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
2025 Expo Osaka: Digitally Re-Created Hiroshima Artifacts Displayed at Expo; Artists' Sculptures Link Past Tragedy to Vision for Future
Digitally crafted re-creations of items that belonged to victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombing are on display at the 2025 Osaka–Kansai Expo. A pocket watch 30 centimeters wide, 30 centimeters deep and 60 centimeters high, and a fountain pen 20 centimeters wide, 20 centimeters deep and 60 centimeters high, were created by New York–based artist Cannon Hersey, 48, and Tokyo-based artist Akira Fujimoto, 49. Hersey is the grandson of Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey, whose 1946 book 'Hiroshima' revealed the devastation to the and Fujimoto believe that the Expo's vision of the future cannot be separated from the past, and they hope the installation will help keep memories of the bombing alive. Since 2019, the pair have produced artwork using 3-D data from artifacts held by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Pasona Group Inc. proposed a new commission last autumn for its pavilion at the Expo, and Hersey accepted, saying it would be meaningful to exhibit at an event visited by so many people. The artifacts were photographed at high resolution early this year, and 3D data were used in a Toyama Prefecture studio to craft the sculptures. Aluminum casts made from 3D-printed molds were hand-polished to reproduce fine details, and each piece was enlarged for easier pocket watch's hands are frozen at 8:15 a.m. — the moment the bomb was dropped — and its dial is melted inward. The fountain pen, discovered in Noboricho near the hypocenter, has a snapped nib, vividly conveying the force of the blast. Fujimoto chose the pocket watch because 'the atomic bombing can be said to have stopped the flow of time; by seeing the hands fixed at 8:15, people can sense the time that was lost.' Hersey selected the fountain pen as a symbol capable of influencing society. The artists visited the Pasona pavilion for the first time on Tuesday. Hersey remarked that without understanding the past, a better future cannot be created. 'Visitors from all over the world will come to the Expo,' said Yoshifumi Ishida, director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 'These highly precise works give people a meaningful opportunity to consider and empathize with the damage caused by the atomic bomb.' After the Expo ends in October, the sculptures will be exhibited in Hiroshima City. The Pasona pavilion — whose displays also include life-science innovations such as sheet-shaped cardiac muscle grown from iPS cells — accepts advance reservations, though visitors may also enter by lining up on-site.
Japan Today
6 days ago
- Japan Today
Alan Bergman, Oscar-winning lyricist who helped write 'The Way We Were,' dies at 99
By HILLEL ITALIE Alan Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with his wife, Marilyn, for an enduring and loving partnership that produced such old-fashioned hits as 'How Do You Keep the Music Playing?,' 'It Might Be You' and the classic 'The Way We Were,' has died at 99. Bergman died late Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, family spokesperson Ken Sunshine said in a statement Friday. The statement said Bergman had, in recent months, suffered from respiratory issues 'but continued to write songs till the very end.' The Bergmans married in 1958 and remained together until her death, in 2022. With collaborators ranging from Marvin Hamlisch and Quincy Jones to Michel Legrand and Cy Coleman, they were among the most successful and prolific partnerships of their time, providing words and occasional music for hundreds of songs, including movie themes that became as famous as the films themselves. Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Tony Bennett and many other artists performed their material, and Barbra Streisand became a frequent collaborator and close friend. Blending Tin Pan Alley sentiment and contemporary pop, the Bergmans crafted lyrics known by millions, many of whom would not have recognized the writers had they walked right past them. Among their most famous works: the Streisand-Neil Diamond duet 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers,' the well-named Sinatra favorite 'Nice 'n' Easy' and the topical themes to the 1970s sitcoms 'Maude' and 'Good Times.' Their film compositions included Ray Charles' 'In the Heat of the Night' from the movie of the same name; Noel Harrison's 'The Windmills of Your Mind,' from 'The Thomas Crown Affair'; and Stephen Bishop's 'It Might Be You,' from 'Tootsie.' The whole world seemed to sing and cry along to 'The Way We Were,' an instant favorite recorded by Streisand for the 1973 romantic drama of the same name that co-starred Streisand and Robert Redford. Set to Hamlisch's tender, bittersweet melody, it was essentially a song about itself — a nostalgic ballad about nostalgia, an indelible ode to the uncertainty of the past, starting with one of history's most famous opening stanzas: 'Memories / light the corners of my mind / misty watercolor memories / of the way we were.' 'The Way We Were' was the top-selling song of 1974 and brought the Bergmans one of their three Oscars, the others coming for 'Windmills of Your Mind' and the soundtrack to 'Yentl,' the Streisand-directed movie from 1983. At times, the Academy Awards could be mistaken for a Bergman showcase. In 1983, three of the nominees for best song featured lyrics by the Bergmans, who received 16 nominations in all. The Bergmans also won two Grammys, four Emmys, were presented numerous lifetime achievement honors and received tributes from individual artists, including Streisand's 2011 album of Bergman songs, 'What Matters Most.' On 'Lyrically, Alan Bergman,' Bergman handled the vocals himself. Although best known for their movie work, the Bergmans also wrote the Broadway musical 'Ballroom' and provided lyrics for the symphony 'Visions of America.' Their very lives seemed to rhyme. They didn't meet until they were adults, but were born in the same Brooklyn hospital, four years apart; raised in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, attended the same children's concerts at Carnegie Hall and moved to California in the same year, 1950. They were introduced in Los Angeles while working for the same composer, but at different times of the day. Their actual courtship was in part a story of music. Fred Astaire was Marilyn's favorite singer at the time and Alan Bergman co-wrote a song, 'That Face,' which Astaire agreed to record. Acetate in hand, Bergman rushed home to tell Marilyn the news, then proposed. Bergman is survived by a daughter, Julie Bergman, and granddaughter. Bergman had wanted to be a songwriter since he was a boy. He majored in music and theater at the University of North Carolina, and received a master's from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he befriended Johnny Mercer and became a protege. He and Marilyn at first wrote children's songs together, and broke through commercially in the late 1950s with the calypso hit 'Yellowbird.' Their friendship with Streisand began soon after, when they visited her backstage during one of her early New York club appearances. 'Do you know how wonderful you are?' was how Marilyn Bergman greeted the young singer. The Bergmans worked so closely together that they often found themselves coming up with the same word at the same time. Alan likened their partnership to housework: one washes, one dries, the title of a song they eventually devised for a Hamlisch melody. Bergman was reluctant to name a favorite song, but cited 'A Love Like Ours' as among their most personal: 'When love like ours arrives / We guard it with our lives / Whatever goes astray / When a rainy day comes around / A love like ours will keep us safe and sound.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Metropolis Japan
17-07-2025
- Metropolis Japan
Sullivan Fortner – Solo Piano Live in Tokyo
Fresh off three Grammy nominations at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, celebrated jazz pianist Sullivan Fortner returns to Japan for a one-night-only solo performance at COTTON CLUB Tokyo. Known for his dazzling technique, soulful touch, and genre-crossing brilliance, Fortner has collaborated with legends like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Roy Hargrove, and Samara Joy—whose Grammy-winning 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Me' features his playing. A former protégé of Fred Hersch, Fortner is now widely regarded as one of the most important jazz pianists of his generation. This intimate solo set will showcase music from his acclaimed two-disc project Solo Game and Wildflowers Vol.1 (with Kurt Elling), alongside selections from his latest album Southern Nights, which blends jazz with R&B classics by Allen Toussaint and Bill Lee. Whether you're a jazz purist or a newcomer to the scene, this is a rare opportunity to experience the full range of Fortner's expressive, storytelling pianism—live and up close.
