Projects

Bookings

Trickster

“Trickster, a four-piece band led by guitarist Miles Okazaki, is best understood in both cerebral and visceral terms. On the one hand, it’s a delivery system for some proudly intricate and idiosyncratic compositions, the byproduct of a deeply rigorous mind. On the other hand, it’s a go-for-broke quartet, capable of shifting the ground underfoot without ever losing its balance.” – Nate Chinen, “Take Five” (WBGO)

This band was formed in 2015 as a side project while Miles Okazaki, Anthony Tidd, and Sean Rickman were working as the rhythm section for Steve Coleman and Five Elements. The group has released four albums of compositions by Miles Okazaki on Pi Recordings (Trickster, The Sky Below, Trickster’s Dream and Thisness). A fourth album will be released in early 2022. Trickster features Miles Okazaki on guitar, Matt Mitchell on piano, Anthony Tidd on bass, and Sean Rickman on drums.

Duo

“The guitarist Miles Okazaki and the drummer Dan Weiss performed a duo set on Friday that suggested some of the new jazz musician’s inexhaustible options as they fit ideas together without stopping.” – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

Miles Okazaki and Dan Weiss have been performing as a duo for over two decades. In early years their repertoire was focused largely on the translations of tabla material to drumset from the albums Tintal Drumset Solo and Jhaptal Drumset Solo. Gradually they incorporated a wide range of materials from the albums that they worked on together as well as covers and standards. In 2020, they each wrote complete suites for guitar and drums that were recorded and released on the album Music for Drums and Guitar.

Solo

“Thelonious Monk’s 100th birthday in 2017 brought a flood of tributes, but the most monumental statement of devotion came a year late. Across six discs, the guitarist Miles Okazaki covers every known Monk composition, honoring the composer’s crooked style and getting his guitar to sound just as resonant and embodied as Monk’s piano did” – Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times

Miles Okazaki began booking solo guitar concerts after the success of WORK, his 2017 recording of the complete works of Thelonious Monk. He has toured the U.S., Europe, and Australia with this project, and will be starting new bookings in 2021.