The first time I thought about the harp and the oboe together was when I heard the Sonata for Oboe and Harp by Jacques Hotteterre. The second time was when Motoshi Kosako backed his truck up to my back porch and off loaded a beautiful full sized classical harp into my studio. I thought, “OK, this is going to be different.”
The harp’s exotic and resonant tones and vibrations woven with the lyrical melodies and dark timbre of the oboe and English horn gave voice to Motoshi’s vision of a harp that could play jazz, and jazz and improvisation that could be found through the blending of the harp and the woodwinds. We discovered a jazz style both original and personal.
A member of the next generation of musicians, Motoshi is inspired and influenced by the group Oregon as well as Western classical music, Japanese traditional music, rock and contemporary jazz; but in the end his music can’t be reduced to a sum of influences. Playing his compositions gives voice to my own language and I find myself very much at home.
Motoshi’s achievements should do for the harp what so many virtuosos’ efforts have done: create new possibilities for the instruments and establish, for these unexpected arrivals, a home in the world of jazz.
It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon in the country, and we really had fun.
