Haruka Kikuchi- Japan: New Orleans Collection Vol.1-6

Her Connections Haruka Kikuchi is a 31-year-old native of Japan who, since relocating in 2014, has been accepted into the New Orleans scene so readily that she has already recorded with everyone from Kermit Ruffins to a Mardi Gras Indian krewe. She plays tailgate trombone in such a natural style that local radio station WWOZ has said she “sounds like she may as well have been born and raised in Treme.” Her skill has made her attractive to a number of bands. In June she played the Edinburgh Jazz Festival with the Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band and stopped on the return trip to play with Post Modern Jukebox in Ann Arbor. In addition to these travels, and while also making engagements with her own band, Haruki Kikuchi and the Big 4Tune, she has found time to pursue a passion project which hooks the worldwide traditional jazz community back into its source. Her Project Since 2016 she has been arranging for visiting Japanese traditional jazz musicians to record two or three tracks with New Orleans residents from the Brass Band and Hot Jazz communities. Her hope is that they take some of the current New Orleans flavor back with them to the clubs in Japan at which she herself got her start. The jazz revival scene in Japan, already strong in the ’50s, solidified around a visit from George Lewis in 1963. The style of play there is consistent enough to be described as its own sound.