- Gerald Oshita
Gerald Oshita (1942 – 1992) was an American musician, composer, and sound recordist.
Oshita, who was of Japanese ancestry, lived in the
San Francisco Bay Area and specialized in unusual wind instruments, particularly those of especially low register. He performed and recorded with straight altosaxophone , tenor and baritone saxophones, contrabass sarrusophone, and Conn-o-sax, and also madeshakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flutes).Oshita's music drew on elements of jazz as well as contemporary classical music, and was often partly or wholly improvised. Among the musicians with whom Oshita frequently worked were
Roscoe Mitchell andThomas Buckner , and this trio released two recordings on the 1750 Arch record label. His work shows the influence of Asian music and philosophy, and he is considered one of the seminal musicians in the development ofAsian American jazz .In 1994, the Gerald Oshita Memorial Fellowship was established in Oshita's memory by an anonymous donor. The fellowship is presented annually to a composer of Asian, African, Latino, or Native American heritage, and supports a residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program on the Program's ranch in
Woodside, California .External links
* [http://www.djerassi.org/oshita.html Gerald Oshita Memorial Fellowship page on Djerassi Resident Artists Program website]
ee also
*
Asian American jazz
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.