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About The Queen's Garden
Product Description The first spoken word epic with jazz. A love story set amongst L.A's urban tribes, between a good girl who's all "chop suey" (Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Scots) and a proud boy going bad descended from Hawaiian royalty.Based on a true story. Amazon.com This soul-stirring coming-of-age disc by Brenda Wong Aoki shouldn't be missed by fans of spoken word. The first-person love story of Brenda Jean--a girl of uniquely mixed heritage (Asian, Mexican, and Scottish)--is backed by a melting jazz soundtrack courtesy of bassist-composer Mark Izu. The west side of Los Angeles is the setting here, but it's Aoki's autobiographical narrative that steals each scene. Her love for Kali, a boy descended from Hawaiian royalty, takes its own course, and Aoki's jazz inspired pacing makes this 71-minute disc ebb and flow with a power all its own. --Jason Verlinde From the Label "...an incredible insight into a world of lost children" Los Angeles Times"...powerful story" San Francisco ExaminerDrama-Logue award for best writing, best original music, best lighting, best performance About the Artist Brenda Wong Aoki (writer/narrator) has broken barriers and established a new artistic genre as a contemporary American storyteller. She has written and produced five full length one woman plays. The Queen's Garden won four Drama-Logue awards, a Critics' Circle Award and was published by Routledge Press (1996). Her debut album, Tales of the Pacific Rim, won the 1996 Indie Award for Best Spoken Word Album. She was recently commissioned by Maestro Kent Nagano to create a new work, Mermaid Meat, symphony.She has received commissions and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the US Congress. Brenda teachs theatre at U.C. Santa Cruz, performs throughout the world and lives in San Francisco.Mark Izu, musician/composer, plays the sheng (Chinese multi-reed instrument), the sho (Japanese Imperial Court instrument) and the double bass. His compositions are characterized by seamlessly integrating Eastern tradition and smooth jazz. ! Izu has received numerous awards including a Meet the Composer, a Drama-Logue for Best Original Music and a Rockefeller commission. Mark has scored music for film: Academy award winning, Day's of Waiting, by Steven Okazaki, Wayne Wang's Dim Sum Take Out, and Dragon Wings (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center). Mark's most recent compositions include Mermaid (scored for full orchestra, koto, sho and dramatic narrative) and Last Dance, a multimedia presentation about th internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry, featuring Brenda Wong Aoki and the Asian American Jazz Orchestra. Mark is a pioneer of the Asian Jazz movement, produces the Asian Jazz Festival in San Francisco and continues to perform throughout the US, Canada and Europe. BAND_MEMBERS: Mark Izu: double bass, percussionJoe Perez: horns, percussionPam Arthur: keyboardMichael Kobayashi: guitar
