Bloom (UPDATED**)

[Photo coutesy of Wil Cohen]

While The Beast is still catching our breath from the departure of alt-jazz promoter Rocco Somazzi to the Bay Area to oversee his new restaurant Duende, now we have to say goodbye all over again to his staggeringly talented betrothed/muse, pianist/sound sculptress Motoko Honda. Sigh.

{**UPDATE #1: Luckily, Motoko will still be playing shows in Los Angeles. ("Both Rocco and I will continue to involve with L.A. music scene," Motoko told the Beast. "I mean, how can we leave all the great musicians here ??") } Tomorrow night (Thursday, May 3) as a part of the L.A. Bloom Festival at the Aratani/Japan Theatre (244 S. San Pedro St., Little Tokyo 90012). Honda will be on the bill with the equally adventuresome laptop-folkie Mia Doi Todd, who will play the first set with percussionist Andres Renteria. (Mo goes on at 10pm if you are concened about traffic.) She will be premiering her newest....uhhh, jazz composition? multi-disciplinary exploration? holistic auditory wackiness?...called "Dreams of a Flower," part of Honda's massive Sound E/Scape Project. Following "a mysterious story" of a single flower (shades of another pianist's The Secret Life of Plants), the piece features an expansive world of acoustic sounds colored with electronics, visual projections featuring a Spectral GL (a visual instrument that employs an interactive software system to generate real-time 3D animation in response to live or recorded sound) invented by visual artist Jesse Gilbert and live dancing by Roxanne Steinberg.

Of particular interest to music alt-jazz fans is the stellar combo Motoko Honda has assembled for the evening: multi-percussionist Alex Cline,  trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, violinist Jeff Gauthier and his wife cellist Maggie Parkins and electric bassist Steuart Liebig. Honda has collaborated with all of these players in the past, so the psychic connections should be flying fast and free. Don't miss it, ffolkes!

{**UPDATE #2: Go here to read a review of Thursday night's show. }