Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band

Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band is a Japanese free jazz/electroacoustic improv/experimental 17-piece ensemble led by a composer, sound producer, turntablist, and guitarist, Otomo Yoshihide. Active since 2013, the Special Big Band is the latest orchestral formation by Yoshihide, who has been working with various instrumental ensembles since the late 1990s and gradually evolved his critically-acclaimed [url=https://discogs.com/artist/167872]New Jazz Quintet[/url] and [url=https://discogs.com/artist/145225]Ensemble[/url] to an [url=https://discogs.com/artist/376530]Orchestra[/url]. The Special Big Band, featuring members of Kin Kon Kan and The Saxophonettes, long-time collaborator Sachiko M and several other prominent Japanese contemporary jazz players, initially gathered during recording sessions for the [url=https://discogs.com/release/13362915]Amachan soundtrack[/url]. In December 2013, the "Amachan Special Big Band" performed at NHK Hall in Tokyo, with the show subsequently released on [url=https://discogs.com/release/10923894]Amachan Live[/url] 2xCD. The band also presented the [url=https://discogs.com/release/13324088]Ejanaika Ondo[/url] mini-album in June 2014.

Otomo's Special Big Band continued touring in 2015, with concerts at Shinjuku's Pit Inn, Amber Hall, Kuji, and Kuji Autumn Festival Parade. Their performance at Shinjuku Bunka Center, Tokyo, commemorating the Pit Inn's 50th anniversary, came out as [r=8642704] CD. In 2022, the Special Big Band released its fourth album, [r=25034245], via Otomo's newly-established label Pit Inn.

Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band
Otomo Yoshihide — guitar, turntables, banjo
Eto Naoko — piano, electric piano
Kondo Tatsuo — organ, harmonica, keyboards
Saito Kan — flute, piccolo flute
Inoue Nashie — clarinet
Suzuki Hiroshi — saxophone
Egawa Ryoko — saxophone
Higashi Ryota — saxophone
Sato Shutoku — trumpet
Imagome Osamu — trombone
Kimura Jinya — tuba
Okuchi Shunsuke — accordion
Kawai Shinobu — bass
Kobayashi Takefumi — drums
Itoken — drums
Uehara Nanae — percussion, marimba
Aikawa Hitomi — percussion
Sachiko M — sinewaves

Guest members
Chris Pitsiokos — alto saxophone
Nonoko Yoshida — alto saxophone
Shinpei Ruike — trumpet
Yuen Chee Wai — guitar, electronics
Ryu Hankil — electronics
[url=https://discogs.com/artist/8377908]Rie Inoue /井上梨江/[/url] — clarinet
[a=Yoshihiko Eida] — violin
[url=https://discogs.com/artist/5312642]Kazunobu Mineta[/url] — spoken word
Yan Jun, Kahimi Karie and [url=https://discogs.com/artist/8155821]Niki[/url] — vocals