About the New Album (Japanese Version)

They don’t happen often but there are experiences that can really shift the direction of your life. Getting a chance to meet Mitsunori Yagawa and playing his atomic bomb piano in front of the atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima, Japan is one of those experiences for me.

Several years ago I was invited to play the atomic bomb piano in front of the atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima. At first I didn’t know what to say. I was afraid to say yes because I had no idea what I should play. But I knew this was a very special opportunity and I couldn’t let my fear get in the way of that, so I said yes.

Before I played, I got to meet the owner and tuner of the atomic bomb piano, Mitsunori Yagawa. I was thinking that I needed to play really somber music, but after talking with him and spending a little time at the atomic bomb dome, I came to realize that I was over thinking it. I needed to be in the moment, feel the energy of the location, get in tune with the instrument and just be me. Just like I would for any performance. When I sat at the piano a Japanese song by Rentaro Taki popped in my head called “The Castle Moon.” That was the first song I played on the atomic bomb piano. After that songs just kept popping in my head. Locals and tourists who happened to be walking by stopped and enjoyed the music, and it turned into a beautiful day. I also got to meet and collaborate with one of the world’s top chromatic harmonica players, Tokunaga Sensei. We played Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence that day which was an unforgettable meeting and performance for me. That is why I decided to include this one cover track as a bonus track on this CD.

Following this performance I was fortunate enough to work on several other video projects with Mr. Yagawa and got a chance to hear his story. He’s dedicated his life to fixing up atomic bomb pianos and traveling throughout Japan and the world promoting peace. In one year he does over 200 performances and spends about half the year on the road traveling. He purposefully tries not to add new parts to the pianos so that they remain as close to how they were following the bombing as possible. The sound of each atomic bomb piano is very unique and when I play it, the sound and touch are so different from a regular piano that I almost think of it as a separate instrument from the piano.

After getting a chance to play the atomic bomb piano several times and getting inspired by Mr. Yagawa’s amazing life work, I felt a strong desire to make an album on the atomic bomb piano and dedicate it to peace.

While “peace,” as in the absence of war, is the main theme of this project, I tried to express other meanings of peace with this album. For instance “inner peace”, “peace with nature,” and “resting in peace.”

While I plan to continue arranging all styles of music like I have for the past decade, I felt this project would best be expressed through my original music. I spent the past year writing this music and recorded it at Mr. Yagawa’s piano factory in September, 2024. I hope you enjoy it.