BLUE: NEW MUSIC FROM HAWAII

Todd Yukumoto, Saxophone
HyeKyung Lee, Piano

Hawaii's premier classical saxophonist, Todd Yukumoto has performed throughout Japan, Korea, Guam, and the U. S. He was trained at the University of Hawaii and the University of Texas, where he studied with world-renowned saxophonist Harvey Pittel. A veteran of both jazz and classical music, Yukumoto has played with numerous orchestras, bands, and ensembles, including performances under the batons of Samuel Wong, Jo Ann Falletta, Jerry F. Junkin, and Michael Stern. He is a member of the faculty of the University of Hawaii, a member of the Royal Hawaiian Band, alto saxophonist in the Honolulu Saxophone Quartet, director of the University of Hawaii Saxophone Choir, and a Selmer clinician.

Blue brings together six works for saxophone and piano, instruments which often straddle the line between musical boundaries. Four University of Hawaii composers have created works influenced by jazz and related idioms. The result is a collection of pieces which display elements of jazz to varying degrees. While it is not uncommon to find composers blurring the lines between styles nowadays, it is perhaps unique to note the widely varying backgrounds of the composers on this recording, who have found jazz to be an important element of their expression. That jazz could find its way into the "classical" works of Hawaii-based composers of Japanese, Korean, and Scottish ethnicity – the coming together of people from different backgrounds around a common theme& – suggests its ubiquitous nature. Blue both honors and illustrates the influence of jazz, showcasing American music as conceived in a small, yet representative corner of our nation's vastly complex culture.