Hiroshima - Third Generation

Title: Hiroshima - Third Generation
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1983, Jazz Fusion, Jazz Funk, Japanese-American Fusion, Los Angeles, California 9/26
Matrix #: AL 38708
Condition: VG+++ | Members: Hiroshima (N/A) | Producer: Dan Kuramoto
Cultural Facts:

1. Japanese America in the Band: Hiroshima was formed in Los Angeles by third-generation Japanese-American musicians who wanted their heritage inside the music rather than hidden behind conventional American jazz and funk. Even the album title Third Generation points directly to that Japanese-American identity.

2. The Koto Changed Everything: June Kuramoto brought the traditional Japanese koto into a band built around electric keyboards, bass, drums and saxophone. Instead of treating it as an exotic decoration, Hiroshima made the centuries-old instrument a central melodic voice, giving the group a sound almost nobody else in American fusion had.

3. Born From Los Angeles Culture: Hiroshima grew out of the multicultural Los Angeles scene of the 1970s, mixing Japanese instruments with jazz, R&B, funk and Latin influences. Their success gave a highly visible place to Asian-American musicians at a time when they were still rarely represented in mainstream American popular music.