The Grammy-nominated composer and chief conductor of the Danish Radio Big Band discusses her new album Frames, the death of her mentor Jim McNeely, and why love is the only honest reason to make music.
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Today we’re putting The Tonearm's needle on composer and chief conductor of the Danish Radio Big Band, Miho Hazama.
Miho grew up inside the Yamaha music education system in her native Japan. She moved to New York to study jazz composition at the Manhattan School of Music under Jim McNeely and has spent her career as one of the most distinctive voices in large-ensemble writing. Her work includes her own chamber jazz group m_unit, conducting posts with the Metropole Orkest and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and a BBC Proms debut last year.
This week, she released Frames, her fourth album on Edition Records with the Danish Radio Big Band. The album draws on the musical language of the conductors who led that band across its decades of existence, including McNeely, who passed away last year. It's a project with significant weight behind it.
(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Miho Hazama's album Frames)
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0:00 Introduction
00:01:18 Childhood and the Yamaha Music School
00:05:09 Different Teachers, Different Lessons
00:06:58 Competition, Nerves, and Stage Presence
00:10:20 The Conductor's Craft: Calibrating Pressure and Trust
00:12:06 What Lives Between the Score and the Stage
00:17:55 What Musicians Read in Their Conductor
00:19:04 Leaving Japan for the Manhattan School of Music
00:23:27 Studying with Jim McNeely
00:28:37 Frames: Compositions Built on Legacy
00:32:05 Jim McNeely's Passing and the Piece "Lulu"
00:36:37 Meeting the Danish Radio Big Band: A Chaotic Beginning in Tokyo
00:41:06 Leading the Band, Leading m_unit
00:45:32 What an Arranger Learns That a Composer Can't
00:48:03 What Hazama Hopes You Hear in Frames
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Visit Miho Hazama at https://www.mihohazama.com
and follow her on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/mihohazama
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/mihohazamamusic
and YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSjs7cyyJ7UWxIpg_7EVAxQ
Purchase Miho Hazama's 'Frames' from Edition Records → https://editionrecords.com/releases/frames
Bandcamp → https://mihohazama.bandcamp.com/album/frames
or Qobuz → https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/frames-miho-hazama-danish-radio-big-band/b86p29vr5ofmh
and listen on your streaming platform of choice → https://orcd.co/mxmo6vo
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