Tuesday, April 5, 2016

What Did You Miss This Week (Week 441 #486)

Rie Kanehira Concert!!!

We may be harp players in B1, but at the end of the day, we're music lovers, and we've been lucky enough to have a terrific musician visiting us from Japan the past few weeks. Rie "Lee" Kanehira is an amazing piano player and she's been sitting in with us during her visit to Chicago.

You know her playing from that New Cool Old School disc of Shoji's you've been wearing out - he has keys on every track and Lee is featured on many of them. Last night Shoji opened up the floor to an impromptu Rie Kanehira and Shoji Naito mini-concert, featuring her playing and singing, his harp playing, and to everyone's surprise, he was even coaxed into singing a tune! We've heard Shoji sing very rarely and it's usually the same song, but when Lee divulged that he sang a couple other tunes when touring in Japan with her, we all pushed and got him to do one. Thanks for that, Shoji - great to hear you singing!

If you missed Monday or just need a Rie Kanehira fix, be sure to download her CD, The Union Meetin', from iTunes or CD Baby.

Thanks, Rie - come back and see us again soon!

Class Notes

  • Performance students - next week is the last rehearsal and we'll record your songs in B1 on April 18.


- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew