NORMAL — Mai Sugimoto’s music career has journeyed far from Normal and into the creative beyond. The graduate of University High School in Normal and Northern Illinois University’s School of Music is returning to the upper half of the Twin Cities for a Saturday performance at Illinois Art Station, 101 E. Vernon Ave.
, Normal. In addition to a solo set, Sugimoto will play with the Shoshin Trio, which includes Yea Big (Stefen Robinson, on guitar and bass clarinet), percussionist Michael Carlson and Matthew Smith. For this column, I interviewed the Chicago-based freeform musician about how she turned her talents to playing outside the box of standard chord progression and music structure.
She said a blank canvas can be filled with any sort of soundscapes. And when playing on her own, Sugimoto said that offers a true blank space to really play around with her own sound and improvise within. “The coolest thing, and the key to improvisation, for me, is really finding out what that specific moment calls for,” Sugimoto, 41, said.
When asked why the Art Station is hosting performance art in additional to visual arts programs, executive director Hannah Johnson said there’s an enduring link and an unavoidable overlap between each field of art. Though the mission of IAS states its commitment to the visual arts, Johnson said they’re glad to be invited at the crossroads where both intersect. “In short, art begets art.
IAS has positioned itself as a partner in transformative .
