Inatnas Orchestra

A special evening-length performance by the Inatnas Orchestra Asuka Kakitani and JC Sanford’s amazing Inatnas Orchestra is a 17-piece big band playing the duo’s original stunning compositions and arrangements will feature a who’s who of local Twin Cities Jazz musicians:

Trumpets : Josh May, Tom Krochock, Elaine Burt, Jake Baldwin

Trombones : Jeff Rinear, JC Sanford, Zach Marley, Josh Becker

Vibraphone : Dave Hagedorn

Piano : Dan Cavanagh

Bass : Graydon Peterson

Drums : Ben Ehrlich

Woodwinds: Clay Pufahl, Brian Handeland, Bryan Murray, Hannah Harder, Matty Harris

Curators Note :I first programmed this band on my Black dog series shortly after the group reformed in the Twin Cities. The first time I heard them, I was so strangely transfixed by their compositions and the performance of the group that I was moved to actual tears. I was shocked by the performance. And it was completely sold out to the point we had to have the event in a different, larger room at the venue. Everyone was stunned.

Asuka Kakitani is a composer, arranger, and conductor. She is the founder of her 18-piece big band, the Asuka Kakitani Jazz Orchestra in 2009, featuring some of the most creative musicians in New York City, including Mark Ferber, Jason Rigby, John O’Gallagher, Pete McCann, John Bailey, Sara Serpa, and more. AKJO has been performing her music in venues in the New York City area such as Drom, ShapeShifter Lab, Bowery Poetry Club, St. Peter’s Church, and regularly at Tea Lounge as a part of the “Size Matters” Large Ensemble Series. Their 2013 debut album Bloom earned critical acclaim and was selected as one of the best albums on the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, All About Jazz, Lucid Culture, and DownBeat Magazine.Kakitani was featured on the international radio program PRI’s The World, and was selected as a DownBeat Critic Poll Rising Star Arranger. Her awards include the BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, the Manny Albam Commission, two Composer Assistance Grants from the American Music Center, the Brooklyn Arts Fund, and recently was a recipient of the Jerome Fund for New Music from the American Composers Forum. Kakitani was a member of BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop 2004 to 2007 under guidance of Jim McNeely, Mike Abene, and Mike Holober. Along with JC Sanford, she is co-founder of the Twin Cities Jazz Composers’ Workshop.A protégé of legendary composer Bob Brookmeyer, trombonist JC Sanford studied at the University of Northern Iowa and completed doctoral studies at the New England Conservatory. Moving to New York in 2000, he became involved with the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop under the direction of Manny Albam and Jim McNeely and remained trombonist/contractor of the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra until 2016. He has also appeared as a trombonist on recordings with such diverse bands as Andrew Green’s Narrow Margin, the Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble, Nathan Parker Smith’s jazz/prog rock big band, and Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.’s new music/jazz hybrid orchestra, Numinous.JC’s Sanford’s compositions have been performed by leading artists such as John Abercrombie and Dave Liebman and he has built a reputation as conductor of large ensembles, including the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Alan Ferber Nonet, Alice Coltrane Orchestra and his own JC Sanford Orchestra. The JC Sanford Orchestra’s album, Views from the Inside, received worldwide acclaim as well as a coveted recording grant from the Aaron Copland Foundation. JC also wrote, performed and conducted a score to accompany the 143-minute 1927 silent classic Ben Hur for the Syracuse International Film Festival, including the film theme “Forest Hills” which now appears on Can You Believe It. He also curated a weekly large ensemble series (“Size Matters”) at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn in addition to leading his orchestra, quartet and trio.Of his return to the Midwest last year, JC notes that “We had a 2-year-old daughter and I went to school in Northfield, and my mom still lives there. New York kind of wore us out, and so we decided we’re going to go somewhere, and that seemed like a really good option. I had a few connections to the Twin Cities music scene. It just seemed like the natural thing to do.” And he wasted no time jumping into the local jazz scene, adding his trombone to Chris Bates’ Red 5, performing with his quartet, and launching a Minnesota edition of his trio, Triocracy. Sanford founded the Twin Cities Jazz Composers’ Workshop alongside composers Asuka Kakitani, Adam Meckler, Aaron Hedenstrom, Kari Musil, and Dave Stamps. And he has released at least 2 Trio recordings to much national attention including 4 star reviews in Downbeat Magazine.