Tatsu Aoki

Tatsu Aoki is an advocate for the Asian American community as well as a filmmaker, educator, composer and a performer of traditional and experimental music forms. He was born in Tokyo in 1957 to Toyoakimoto, an artisan family proficient in okiya, the tradition of working as booking and training agents for geisha in downtown Tokyo. Starting at the age of four, Aoki was part of his family's performance crew and received traditional Tokyo geisha cultural training and studies which combined history with creativity. In the late 1960s, during Tokyo's economic and social decline, many traditional family businesses were forced to close. With his grandmother's passing, he shifted his training to American pop and experimental music. In the early 1970s, he became a member of Gintenkai, an experimental ensemble that combined traditional music with Western forms. He began to work in small-gauge and experimental films, influenced by his biological father, who was a movie producer at Shintoho studio.

In 1977, Aoki left Tokyo to study experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he has taught film production and art history. He has produced more than thirty experimental films and performs on double bass, shamisen, and taiko. He was a visiting professor at Northwestern University, teaching courses in Asian American Arts Practices and Identity. He is the founder and artistic director of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. In 1999 he became president of Asian Improv Records in San Francisco. He has managed or produced more than fifty albums for the label, including the Max Roach and Jon Jang collaboration The Beijing Trio.

Since 1995, Aoki has led the Miyumi Project ensemble.[3] The Miyumi Project has had a varying number of musicians; the only continuous members have been Aioki and Mwata Bowden. With drummer Afifi Phillard they originally called the group Power Trio.[4] In 2016, the Miyumi Project ensemble was the official musical presenter for Yoko Ono's Skylanding installation at Jackson Park in Chicago. Ono produced the band's album Skylanding. In 2017, the Miyumi Project contributed to And Then They Came for Us, a documentary about internment of Japanese Americans and released an album of the same name. For twenty years he has played bass for saxophonist Fred Anderson. He has also worked with Hamid Drake, Von Freeman, Nicole Mitchell, and Jeff Parker and has had extensive recording processes with Roscoe Mitchell, Don Moye, Wu Man, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors.

Aoki's suite Rooted: Origins of Now, a four-movement suite for big band, premiered in 2001 at Ping Tom Memorial Park and was performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival and MCA Stage as part of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. Additional albums include Basser Live (1999) and Basser Live II (2005), recorded live at MCA Stage; Symphony of Two Cities (2002); and Posture of Reality with Wu Man (2003). In 2016 he toured as part of Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble. He leads Tsukasa Taiko, a traditional Japanese drumming group, and has performed with Toyoaki Shamisen Ensemble and Shubukai Classical Dance

As executive director of Asian Improved arts Midwest, an Asian American cultural arts presenter organization, Aoki has initiated and managed several programs to advance the understanding of traditional arts, including the annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, the Tsukasa Taiko Legacy, and the Toyoaki Shamisen arts residency projects.

He began making films in regular 8 gauge in early childhood. His biological father, Wahei Hoshino, was a movie producer in the 1960s and influenced his work in small gauge, experimental filmmaking. His super 8 diary films and experimental films with optical printing have been screened around the world. He presented the documentary That Asian Thing in 2008 and worked as a composer for the short film Farewell, Mr. Griswell in 2010. He has published sample versions of films such as FLUX Project, Gate, Puzzle - Part III, Ah Sou Desuka: Is that So!, and Solution A.

• 2001 Chicagoan of the Year, Chicago Tribune
• 2007 Milestone Award, Asian American Institute
• 2010 Cultural Achievement Award, Japan America Society of Chicago
• 2014 Living in Our Culture Award, Japanese American Service Committee
• 2015 Jazz Heroes Award, Jazz Journalists Association
• 2017 Best Experimental Film, Light, Canada International Film Festival
• 2017 Commendation for the Promotion of Japanese Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan
• 2017 Community Service Award, Asian American Advisory Council of Illinois, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White
• 2018 George Award, George Freeman
• 2018 Silver Gavel Award, American Bar Association
• 2019 Community Service award, Asian American Coalition of Chicago
• 2020 United States Artist Fellowship and Illinois Arts Council Fellowship

• Depressingly Happy (Innocent Eyes & Lenses, 1990)
• Needless to Say (Sound Aspects, 1992)
• Kioto (Asian Improv, 1994)
• If It Wasn't for Paul (Southport, 1995)
• Urban Reception (Southport, 1996)
• Actual Music (TOE, 1996)
• Live at Blue Rider Theatre (Innocent Eyes & Lenses, 1997)
• Basser Live (Asian Improv, 1999)
• 2 x 4 (Southport, 1999)
• Trio (Melungeon 2006)
• Boxes (Asian Improv, 2019)

• Apple Lips Now 16mm, Color, Sound, 4 min. – 1978
• Body Exercise 16mm, Color, Silent, 4 min. – 1979
• Coo Film 16mm, Color, Sound, 9 min. – 1980
• BALI 16mm, Color, Sound, 5 min. – 1980
• 3725 16mm, Color, Sound, 11 min. – 1980
• Journal 80 Super 8, Color, Silent 20 min. – 1980
• Dream Works 16mm, Color, Sound, 14 min. – 1981
• Image 81 Super 8, Color, Silent, 23 min. – 1981
• Recording Super 8, Color, Silent, 11 min. – 1982
• Number Series 2: YOGA 16mm, Color, Silent, 3 min. – 1982
• Number Series 1: Sewing 16mm, B&W, Silent, 3 min. – 1982
• Daily Chronicle 16mm, Color, Silent, 12 min. – 1983
• Rapturous 16mm, Color, Silent, 8 min. – 1983
• Car #2 16mm, Color, Silent, 4 min. – 1983
• Car 16mm, B&W, Silent, 4 min. – 1983
• 84 Super 8, Color, Silent, 15 min. – 1984
• Sound in Synch 2 16mm, Color, Sound, 7 min. – 1984
• Sound in Synch 1 16mm, Color, Sound, 13 min. – 1984
• Sound in Synch 1 & 2: Festival Version 16 mm, Color, Sound, 19 min. – 1984
• AnDee's Painting 16mm, Color, Silent, 4 min. – 1984
• Timing Tape Twice 16mm, Color, Silent, 3 min. – 1984
• Niiki 85 Super 8, Color, Silent, 15 min. – 1985
• Car #3 16mm, Color, Silent, 3 min. – 1985
• Hallway 16mm, Color, Silent, 10 min. – 1985
• Waiting Room 16mm, Color, Silent, 18 min. – 1985
• Life Line 87 Super 8, Color, Silent, 10 min. – 1987
• Local Color 1 16mm, Color, Silent, 10 min. – 1987
• 88 Super 8, Color, Silent, 15 min. – 1988
• 89 Super 8, Color, Silent, 16 min. – 1989
• Landing Super 8, Color, Silent, 20 min. – 1989
• Local Color - 90 Version 16mm, Color, Silent, 10 min. – 1990
• Discovery Super 8, Color, Sound, 28 min. – 1991
• Harmony 16mm, Color, Sound, 12 min. – 1991
• Solution Super 8, Color, Silent, 25 min. – 1991
• Moderate Life16mm, Color, Sound, 28 min. – 1993-95
• Light 16mm, Color, Silent, 8 min. – 1994
• Tingle 16mm/Super 8, Color, Silent, 16 min. – 1995
• Shape 16mm, Color, Silent, 8 min. – 1996
• Free Hands Part 1 16mm, Color, Silent, 10 min. – 1997
• It's own vision Super 8, Color, Silent, 25 min. – 1998
• Turn Over Super 8, Color, Silent, 20 min. – 1999
• Local Color – Revisit 16mm, Color, Silent, 11 min. – 2000
• Puzzle – Part 1 16mm, Color, Silent, 55 min. – 2001
• Puzzle – Part 1 16mm, Color, Sound, 50 min. – 2001
• Decades Passed 16mm, Color, Sound, 28 min. – 2002
• Puzzle – Part II 16mm, Color, Silent, 45 min. – 2002　　　　　　
• Puzzle – Part III 16mm, Color, Silent, 30 min. – 2003　　　　
• Decades Passed: Re-Edit 16mm, Color, Sound, 25 min. – 2003
• Rapturous – Digital Version 2004 DVD, Color, 18 min. – 2004
• Passing Though Super 8, Color, Silent, 8 min. – 2004
• Traveling spirits 16mm, Color, Sound, 20min. – 2005
• OCTOPUS:Re-Mix Digital Movie, Color, Sound, 7min. – 2006
• DVD supplemental Interviews for Home Vision Entertainment DVD releases: Total of 38 releases of Japanese Films. – 2003-07
• Free Hand: Re-Mix Digital Movie, Color, Sound, 8min. – 2007
• Beneath the Skin Digital Movie, Color, Sound, 8min. – 2007
• Invocation and Resonance Digital Movie, Color, Sound, 9min – 2007
• Recollection Cycle Super 8 – DV, Color, Sound, 25min. – 2007
• FLUX Project Digital Movie, Color, Sound, 15 min. – 2008
• Gate 16mm, Color, Sound, 28 min. – 2009
• Gate Digital, Color, Sound, 30 min. – 2009
• Origins of Now: Experimental Edit Digital - 2009
• Gate: BW BW, 6 min., 16mm, Silent – 2010
• Ganada Digital, 10 min. Sound – 2010-11
• Ganada – ReMix 7 min. Sound – 2012
• Ah So Desuka: Is That So, 42 min. Digital, Sound – 2012
• Washed 1982, 8 min., 16mm, Silent – 2012
• Washed 1984, 10 min., 16mm, Silent – 2012
• Escape 28 min. HD, Sound – 2013
• The Detached 14 min. HD, Sound – 2014
• Page's 12 min. HD, Sound – 2015
• LIGHT by Lenora Lee Dance (Canada International Film Festival "Best Experimental Film") – 2016
• Box and Boxes, 12min, HD, Sound – 2017
• Washed Wash 1980 16mm, HD transfer – 2018
• Washed 1979 16mm – in production
• Washed 1981 16mm – in production
• Within These Walls – in production (2020 fall release)

• Official website
• Tatsu Aoki at IMDb
• Taiko Legacy
• Asian Improv Arts Midwest
• MCA Chicago Advertisement