Jason Ajemian
Acoustic bassist Jason Ajemian is one of the members of the underground music scene in Chicago, playing a variety of creative improvised, noise, and experimental musics based in rock and jazz. He is a graduate of the William Patterson College in New Jersey, where he studied with bassist Rufus Reid and percussionist Kevin Norton. Arriving in Chicago in the fall of 2000, Ajemian embraced the then burgeoning progressive music community. Ajemian also vocalizes and utilizes electronics. His dizzying number of credits include work with Rob Mazurek, the Exploding Star Orchestra, Dragons 1976, Lay All Over It, Born Heller, Matt Bauder, Ken Vandermark’s Crisis Ensemble, Who Cares How Long You Sink, Triage, Mandarin Movie, the Chicago Underground Trio, and countless others.
Noritaka Tanaka
Drummer Noritaka Tanaka first started out playing in local bands and soon after decided to move to the US to study jazz. From 1997 and on, Chicago, while studying jazz and orchestral percussion at school, became home for his musical development performing with a variety of musicians and ensembles. A partial list of musicians and groups he worked with during this period include; Robert Irving III, Ernest Dawkins, Harrison Bankhead, Bobby Broom, Ron Perrillo, Jeff Parker, Lay All Over Its, A Cushicle, the Howling Hex, the Cairo Gang, Zach Brock, Josh Abrams, Keefe Jackson, Josh Berman, Jason Adasiewicz, and Greg Ward. Relocating to Tokyo in 2007, Tanaka joined groups led by Terumasa Hino, Aki Takase, Nobuyoshi Ino, Kei Akagi, and Michiyo Yagi as well as taking part in projects with Peter Brötzmann, Akira Sakata, Axel Dörner, Ken Vandermark, Jim O’Rourke, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Josephine Foster, Mikrokolektyw, and Antonio Loureiro.
