Compostela

Forming the Japanese ensemble Compostela were reedist and drummer Nakao Kanji, tuba player Sekijima Takero, and leader and alto saxophonist Shinoda Masami. During the early ’90s the group introduced chindon music—an established cultural practice of promoting new businesses through public performances by musicians costumed as samurai and geishas—into the country’s jazz and rock communities. The style features buoyant brass-and-woodwind arrangements that blend numerous sources, among them Eastern European folk traditions. Compostela integrated this street form into Japan’s avant jazz environment. The project ended abruptly when Shinoda Masami died suddenly at the close of 1992. Its sole release available domestically, Wadachi on the Tzadik label, compiles live recordings made between 1991 and 1992.