Shoko Igarashi Quintet • NEW BAND
Shoko Igarashi (sax) ; Pierre-Antoine Savoyat (tr) ; Casimir Liberski (p) ; Jasen Weaver (b) ; Daniel Jonkers (dr)
For this second week of our summer residency at Toots, we are delighted to welcome Japanese saxophonist Shoko Igarashi.
Born in the heart of the snow-covered landscapes of the Yamagata region, she grew up in a serene, almost mystical environment that deeply shaped her artistic sensibility. She began her jazz training in Tokyo before continuing her studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. After a period in New York, she settled in Brussels in 2018, where she developed a musical universe infused with her Japanese heritage and strongly influenced by contemporary African-American music.
Between 2022 and 2025, she released no fewer than four albums, exploring and breaking down boundaries between genres and instruments. One notable example is Project Tenori, an experimental album created entirely with Yamaha’s Tenori-on, showcasing her inventiveness in the field of electronic music.
This week, she explores a new format with an acoustic jazz quintet, surrounded by a stellar line-up from the Brussels scene. The band brings together some of the finest improvisers from our rich musical landscape.
A must-see.