Home » Jazz Musicians » Tiger Okoshi

Tiger Okoshi

Berklee Associate Professor Toru "Tiger" Okoshi has observed dualities in his life over the years. With a grin, he tells me about how he was recently booked for two performances on the same night at the same hour in two different places. Remarkably enough, he showed up on time for both gigs. The fact that the two venues were on opposite sides of the international dateline helped the logistics considerably.

Tiger is a nickname given him by pianist Ted Lo '75, one of the first friends he met when he arrived at Berklee. Tiger is the part of Okoshi's personality that is the renowned jazz trumpeter who got his start in the U.S. Toru is his alter ego, who was born in Ashiya City, Japan, the son of a samurai warrior. It was Toru who earned a degree in commerce from Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan before coming to America on his honeymoon.

That trip to America in 1972 was a turning point and led to the emergence of Tiger. Okoshi and his new bride Akemi traversed the country on a Greyhound Bus and ended up in the lobby of Berklee's 1140 Boylston Street building. With no English language skills and very little money left, Okoshi and his wife relied on the hospitality of various Japanese students (including Ted Lo) for accommodations until they found their own apartment. Okoshi decided to cash in the airline tickets for the couple's return to Japan, paid his tuition, and began his studies at Berklee.

Soon, Okoshi was playing with some of the top instrumentalists at the college. "We thought we were going to be the next generation of jazz musicians to leave our mark," said Okoshi. "I became friends with guitarist Bill Frisell ['78], who helped me put my band, Tiger's Baku, together with drummer Tommy Campbell ['79], keyboardist Frank Wilkins ['78], and bassist Kermit Driscoll ['73]. We used to call the band Baku School because many people who played in the band went on to great gigs afterwards." Indeed, many former Baku sidemen like Mike Stern '75, Vinnie Colaiuta '75, Kai Eckhardt '87, Gerry Etkins '76, and others have gone on to work with major artists and develop solo careers.

After graduating from the college in 1975, Okoshi became a sideman himself. In 1978, he got a chance to tour with Gary Burton's band. "I had made up my mind that I was only going to play jazz," Okoshi recalls. "My wife said, 'Have you seen how much money we have in the bank?' I told her to just hold on and things would work. Then, Gary called. It seems that every time I have made up my mind to do something, it works out. If you want to steal second base, you have to leave first base."

Read more

Tags

237
Album Review

Dave Liebman: John Coltrane's Meditations

Read "John Coltrane's Meditations" reviewed by AAJ Staff


When it comes seeing how adventurous a person is, John Coltrane's late period is one of the things that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. From 1965 until his death in 1967, Trane offered the most atonal of free jazz-and his music became so blistering that even some of his most ardent admirers shy away from his late period. But what frightens others is a challenge that Dave Liebman accepts with this CD, which ...

Read more articles
46

Performance / Tour

Tiger Okoshi Leads Benefit Concert for Boston Higashi Jazz Band on October 3 at Thayer Academy

Tiger Okoshi Leads Benefit Concert for Boston Higashi Jazz Band on October 3 at Thayer Academy

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts

Japanese trumpet player Tiger Okoshi is conducting a benefit concert for the Boston Higashi School jazz band on Sunday, October 3, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Center for the Arts, Thayer Academy in Braintree. Okoshi is being joined by Ryu Goto, Soichi Muraji, Pei-Shan Lee and Joinatsuru Yanai. For more details on these accomplished musicians, click here. Based in Randolph, Massachusetts, the Boston Higashi School is an international program for children and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. ...

88

Performance / Tour

Kimmel Center's Mellon Jazz up Close Series "Goes Global" with the Debut of Japan's Triumphant Jazz Trumpeter Tiger Okoshi and His Band November 17

Kimmel Center's Mellon Jazz up Close Series "Goes Global" with the Debut of Japan's Triumphant Jazz Trumpeter Tiger Okoshi and His Band November 17

Source: Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Classic American jazz standards take on new meaning with the debut of Japanese trumpeter Toru “Tiger" Okoshi and his Band's performance in Perelman Theater on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 7:30pm. Okoshi first gained national exposure playing with the Gary Burton Quartet in 1978, followed by various collaborations including George Russell's Living Time Orchestra in the early 1990's and a recording with Bob Moses. A transmigrant who settled in the United States, Okoshi sold his airline ticket during a visit ...

Mao Soné
trumpet

Photos

Music

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.