>> write // zen of glenn: liner notes

Francis Wong:
tenor saxophone

Chris Trinidad:
bass guitar (2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9)
synth bass (1, 3, 8, 9)
bass ukulele (1, 6)
chopstick bass (5)
voice (9)

Carrie Jahde:
drum set

Erika Oba:
piano (2, 3, 4)
flute (1, 7, 8, 9)
piccolo (5)
melodica (6)

Helen Palma:
voice (2, 4, 9)

Produced and mixed by Chris Trinidad at Elemental MusicWorks, Pinole, CA.

Additional production assistance by Francis Wong.

Recorded by Jeremy Goody on 22 September 2024 at Megasonic Sound, Oakland, CA
and by Akiyoshi Ehara on 10 November 2024 at Sleepy Wizard Studios, El Cerrito, CA.

Layout and Design by Chris Stevenson.
Cover Artwork by PJ Martin.
Insert Sleeve Comic by Katie Quan.
Photos by Noah Rosen.

On a blustery Saturday afternoon in November 2023, at the conclusion of their weekly Sky Cafe residency gig, Chris Trinidad and Francis Wong hatched a plan to create a series called Directions in Music Making by Asian Americans (and one Canadian!) Improvisers, set to debut at the top of the new year. Beginning that January 2024, the plan was to explore, highlight, and introduce new ears and new hearts to the legacy of the Asian American Jazz movement, which was pioneered by figures such as Francis, Genny Lim, Melody Takata, Jon Jang, Glenn Horiuchi, and many others. This endeavor required some excavation to transcribe material from the treasure trove of music that Francis helped curate on his label, Asian Improv Records. Glenn Horiuchi was one of the first artists featured on that label and in our series.

Born on February 27, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, Glenn was a polymath, excelling in a variety of fields including music, mathematics, community activism, and auto mechanics. He also had an affinity for Zen Buddhism and eventually became a practitioner of the Kwan Um School, taking on the name Won Um, meaning "universal sound." However, it was in music where Glenn would make his mark-as a composer, pianist, and apprentice on both the shamisen (a three-string Japanese lute) and the fue (a Japanese transverse flute)-and where his artistic expression reached its fullest fruition.

Glenn was part of that first generation of Asian American musicians who insisted on defining themselves on their own terms. His music was a celebration of his Japanese American heritage; his early compositions incorporated the rhythms of taiko drums alongside Japanese melodic motifs inspired by the Obon festival and Nisei Week celebrations. Glenn was also an advocate for the redress and reparations movement, which sought justice for Japanese Americans incarcerated in American concentration camps during World War II. In support of this movement, Glenn sought to encode his experiences as an activist and as a descendant of the incarcerated through his music.

He also drew inspiration from the rich history of the African American experimental avant-garde, having been mentored by or collaborated with bassist M'Chaka Uba, trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith, trombonist and composer George E Lewis, and saxophonist Joseph JarmanŠall members of the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

As mentioned, most of Glenn's recorded output was released on Asian Improv Records, and he also recorded for the Italian imprint Soul Note, and the Berkeley, California-based Music and Arts label. The music included on this collection was transcribed and arranged by Francis, who had performed on most of the original recordings.

Glenn was diagnosed with colon cancer in late 1999 and left this world on June 3, 2000. Still, his music lives on ...

Mochi Groove
The groove on this tune simulates the rhythms of mochitsuki, the community ritual of mochi pounding, where sticky sweet rice meets mallets and stone. Originally released on the album Next Step (Asian Improv Records, 1988).

Dreamwaters
Glenn wrote this piece in reflection of a time spent on a San Diego beach. For some Asian Americans (and Asian Canadians), particularly those living on the West Coast of North America, staring out into a sunset and gazing at the Pacific Ocean can take on a different meaning: for some, it represents a yearning for the places where their ancestors dwelled; for others, it's a yearning for home. Originally released on the album Next Step (Asian Improv Records, 1988).

Getting Together
Getting Together was the name of the publication by I Wor Kuen, an Asian American radical organization formed in New York and expanded to San Francisco, which promoted Asian American self-determination. Originally released on the album Issei Spirit (Asian Improv Records, 1989).

Tear Dem Walls
An anti-capitalist ode to unity and solidarity among the proletariat, rendered in Glenn's often jovial and satirical style! Originally released on the album Issei Spirit (Asian Improv Records, 1989).

Oxnard Beet
Dedicated to the united Japanese and Mexican farm workers of the Sugar Beet strike of 1903 in Oxnard, this tune's original version incorporated a shamisen riff on piano, set against a Latin tinge. For this version, Francis arranged that riff for the bass instead. The bridge contains a "New Orleans-Taiko break!" Following solos by Erika on piccolo and Francis on tenor saxophone, Chris takes a solo using a chopstick! Always the jokester, Glenn often required his bass players to have the Asian eating utensil at the ready when the music called for it! Originally released on Oxnard Beet (Soul Note, 1992).

Dance For A Nisei Hipster
Growing up in Chicago, Glenn and his family witnessed both Japanese American Nisei (second-generation) culture and the Windy City's hip jazz scene. Glenn's parents' generation was introduced to Black music and musicians, including the celebrated trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Another intersecting influence was a Japanese American "smooth operator" who traveled in the noted gangster circles of town. In Glenn's mind, this song captures the image of a man in a fedora and black trench coat Š perhaps an "OG" (original gangster). The second half of the tune shifts to a relative major key, reminiscent of a rhythm found in a Japanese folk street dance. Originally released on Oxnard Beet (Soul Note, 1992).

Heart Place
This piece reflects Glenn's thoughts on the Heart Sutra, rendered in musical form. It was also, in part, a response to the trauma left by the 1989 mass shooting at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, which left one Vietnamese and four Cambodian students dead and 31 wounded, the majority of whom were of Southeast Asian descent. Originally released on Calling Is It And Now (Soul Note, 1995).

Issei Spirit
Issei refers to first-generation Japanese Americans. Glenn originally conceived this song in 1981, during his involvement in the reparations movement, in commemoration of the forcibly confined Japanese Americans during World War II as a result of Executive Order 9066. He sought to "capture the spirit and inner strength of the Issei pioneers in their struggles to survive and find a place for their children in (the United States)." Originally released on the album Issei Spirit (Asian Improv Records, 1989) and Dew Drop (Asian Improv Records, 1997).

Dew Drop
This composition was Glenn's "attempt to capture the ephemeral beauty of a single drop of dew." The version presented here incorporates text from Glenn's writings as well as a tribute from Glenn's sister. Originally released on the album Dew Drop (Asian Improv Records, 1997) and Pachinko Dream Track 10 (Music and Arts, 1998).