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Up until recently, Jeff Wichmann's musical worlds have
been divided into two camps - the trumpet and the Japanese koto. In one he's put out four albums playing horns and keys with the Chicago rock band TENKI and is currently marching around the US with Environmental Encroachment. In the other camp he's been playing contemporary and traditional music on the koto for 20 years in local and international
koto ensembles. He's collaborated with international experimental instrumentalists, dancers, junk-yard sculpture artists, experimental composers, rock bands and poets. Also, using the koto, he's
transposed, composed and performed scores for theater - the most recent being with the Steppenwolf Theater
production of Haruki Murakami's "After The Quake". In 2009 he finally fused the two worlds and recorded his first solo album called "Ahhh!!!" to be released
in the spring of 2010. _________________________________________________________
HISTORY Wichmann was introduced to the piano at an
early age, then dropped it for trumpet and has been playing ever since. It wasn't until he attended Augustana College
in Rock Island, Illinois where he was introduced to the koto by Dr. Jesse Evans. After graduating he moved to Tokyo to study
traditional and contemporary Japanese music under koto master Kazue Sawai and received a koto license from the Sawai Koto Academy. Over the years he's relied on both his western and eastern musical backgrounds to transpose
and adapt various western works to be performed on koto, including a new rendition of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly",
Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", and other arrangements by Bach, The Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. In 2005-2007, he was the touring koto player in Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre's
production of Haruki Murakami's "After The Quake", directed by Tony award winner Frank Galati. 350 performances showed in Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and New Haven.
He worked with cellist Jason McDermott and sound designer Andre Pluess to fuse rock/pop and classical western/Japanese genres
into a live score which ended up winning three annual critics choice awards in three cities for Best Original Score. In 2008 he was the featured koto player in the theatrical sound design for Steppenwolf's next production/adaptation of
Murakami's novel Kafka On The Shore.
In 2009, Wichmann collaborated with
experimental Japanese sound designer HAL (aka Yasuharu Ohkouchi) to create a soundscape that represents Tokyo in 2010. The 11+ minute piece was curated by Tokyo trend agency fivebyfifty to be used at the famous Paris fashion expo Pret a Porter. Tokyo street recordings were mixed with studio recordings of Wichmann in Chicago. Story here.
He is still performing and recording with the rock
band TENKI after 4 studio albums. Their 5th album is due out in 2010. In 2009, Wichmann began performing trumpet with Environmental Encroachment Magic Circus Band who became the focus of a documentary Louder Than Words surrounding the ever-growing Honk Fest in Boston. He's been a past
performing member of Koto Phase, Spring Valley Koto Ensemble, Chusei
Koto Ensemble, Group Otoko, JeffeJ, Sunday Mind, Seaweed, and Brain Coral. ______________________________________ DISCOGRAPHY KOTO
"Ahhh!!!" - Solo Koto/Trumpet album to be released in Spring, 2010 "Flood" - Contemporary Koto duets and solos featuring Dr. Jesse
Evans, 2001 TENKI "TBD" - Forthcoming album in 2010. GUEST ON OTHER ALBUMS
"Peaking Through the High Hats" - The Demilos, 2008
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