Tiger Okoshi
November 30, 2007 by nonotes
I had not heard of Tiger Okoshi prior to reading a recent performance review in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He is a trumpeter born in Japan in 1950, who has lived in the U.S. since 1972. Toru Okoshi picked up the nickname “Tiger,” apparently, as a reflection of his hunger for musical learning. He is on the faculty at Berklee. What I was able to find online indicated that he plays “fusion” as well as “straight ahead jazz.”
The reviewed performance at the Kimmel was part of a “Jazz Goes Global” series, “curated” by pianist Danilo Pérez. As I understand it, Pérez wasn’t performing with Okoshi; he had a pianist named Leo Genevese. With that in mind:
The encore was out of left field and simply stunning: The group sat at the lip of the stage and offered “St. James Infirmary,” balancing modernist priorities with a dose of New Orleans roots. Genovese played the melodica. After about six choruses, Pérez jumped in on piano, unable to contain himself.
Sounds killer. I looked into whether Okoshi has a recorded version of the tune, but came up empty.
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
Not only are you wrong about how he got the nickname Tiger, but St. James Infirmary is actually recorded on his album that was a tribute to Louis Armstrong, entitles “Echos of Note.” Anyways, he got the nickname Tiger because he was born in the year of the tiger.
Why so snarky? Can’t just state your assertions? Not only are you unhelpful, you’re actually annoying.
[...] 28, 2008 by nonotes An item here last November about a Tiger Okoshi performance in Philadelphia noted that the show’s encore [...]