Los Angeles-based saxophonist/composer Patrick Shirioshi's previous LP, 2020's Descension, heavily focused on the experience of being inside a Japanese-American concentration camp. By doing so, he revisited one of the darkest pages in American history that is not talked about as often as it should. His new album, Hidemi, is a solo multilayered woodwind journey that is more on the personal experience of his grandfather, who appears on its cover, after getting out.
Due out on October 29 via American Dream, Shirioshi's forthcoming full-length is not only a fascinating work of expressive, creative avant-garde music and improvisation. Through it, the multi-instrumentalist consciously aims to represent the Japanese-American experience past and present, acknowledging music as a means for communication and activism.
