August 2001
Jazz artists transcend 'Asian' label
by Lloyd Sachs, CHICAGO SUN TIMES

When Tatsu Aoki initiated the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival in 1996, the idea of Asian Americans playing jazz was to many people as exotic as punk rockers practicing Zen. And for many of the city's Asian-American jazz players, the idea of getting gigs on any kind of regular basis was the stuff of science fiction.

"We felt very excluded," said Aoki, a bassist who earned his keep by teaching film at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Five years later, Chicago's Asian jazz community still has a ways to go to gain the desired recognition, acceptance and employment. But on the eve of the premiere of Aoki's "Rooted: Origins of Now," a 50-minute suite to be performed at 4 p.m. Sunday in Chinatown's Ping Tom Memorial Park (on a program that starts at 3 p.m.), signs of improvement are hard to miss.