View source for Mark Izu

{{Short description|American jazz musician (1954–2025)}}
'''Mark Izu''' (September 30, 1954 – January 12, 2025) was an American jazz [[double bass]] player and composer. He was of [[sansei]] (third-generation) Japanese ancestry and frequently combined jazz with Asian traditional musics (particularly the ancient Japanese court music known as ''[[gagaku]]'') in his compositions. He performed with [[Anthony Brown (jazz musician)|Anthony Brown]] and [[Jon Jang]]. Izu was a seminal leader in the [[Asian American jazz]] movement. His compositions include works for symphony orchestra, film, theater, dance, and jazz. The principal curator of the original Asian American Jazz Festival held at the [[Asian Art Museum of San Francisco|Asian Art Museum]] in San Francisco’s [[Golden Gate Park]] for nearly two decades, he helped establish the genre. In addition to the double bass, he also played the Japanese ''[[Shō (instrument)|shō]]'' and Chinese ''[[sheng (instrument)|sheng]]'' (both free-reed [[mouth organ]]s).

==Life and career==
Izu was born in [[Vallejo, California]], on September 30, 1954. He grew up in [[Seattle, Washington]] and [[Sunnyvale, California]]. The second of three brothers, he studied music at [[San Francisco State University]]. He lived in San Francisco, California, with his wife, playwright and performer [[Brenda Wong Aoki]], and son (Kai Kāne Aoki Izu).

Mark Izu received a Northern California Regional Emmy Award for outstanding Musical Composition/Arrangement for his score for ''[[Bolinao 52]]'', a film about the [[Vietnamese boat people]], which also received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary.

Izu died of colon cancer in San Francisco, on January 12, 2025, at the age of 70.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gilbert |first1=Andrew |title=Mark Izu, bassist and composer at the center of the Asian American arts movement, dies at 70 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/mark-izu-obit-20034770.php |access-date=16 January 2025 |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=15 January 2025}}</ref>

==Discography==
===As leader===
*''Circle of Fire'', Mark Izu & Circle of Fire (1992)
*''Last Dance'' (2002) 
*''Threading Time'' (2007) 
*''Mermaid Meat'' (2007) 
*''Dragon Painter'' (2007)
*''Navarasa: Duets for Shakuhachi & Contrabass'' (2010) 
*''Legend of Morning Glory'' (2010)

===As sideman===
*''Cat Chat'', Tokyo Broadcast System (1999) TBS CD ROM 
*''Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite'', Asian American Orchestra (1999) 
*''The Queen’s Garden'', Brenda Wong Aoki (1998) 
*''Dreams & Illusions: Tales of the Pacific Rim'', with Brenda Aoki 
*''San Francisco Jazz Festival 96''
*''Tiananmen'', Jon Jang & The Pan Asian Arkestra Soul Note 
*''Quest'', Michael West 
*''Live in Berlin'', United Front 
*''What Is the Difference Between Stripping and Playing the Violin?'' with Miya Masaoka 
*''Family'', Anthony Brown 
*''Big Bands Behind Bared Wire'', Asian American Jazz Orchestra (1998) 
*''Jang'', Jon Jang 
*''Song for Manong'', Fred Houn 
*''Never Give Up'', Jon Jang & The Pan Asian Arkestra 
*''Self Defense!'', Jon Jang & The Pan Asian Arkestra Soul Note 
*''Francis Wong'', Francis Wong & the Great Wall Ensemble 
*''Crystalization of the Mind'', Jason Michaels 
*''In Xinjiang Time'', Phoenix Spring Ensemble, Betty Wong OWR 
*''Travel of a Zen Babtist'', Mark Izu/Lewis Jordan 
*''Are You Chinese or Charlie Chan?'', Jon Jang 
*''Ohm: Unit of Resistance'', United Front 
*''Of Blues Myself & I'', Ray Collins 
*''Path with a Heart'', United Front
*''Monk'', Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra 
*''Russel Hisashi Baba'', Russel Baba

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|www.brendawongaoki.com/about-mark/}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218081916/http://www.firstvoice.org/mark_izu.html Mark Izu page]
* [https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/mark-izu-obit-20034770.php Mark Izu obituary]
* {{imdb name|0412807}}
* {{discogs artist|Mark Izu}}

==See also==
* [[Asian American jazz]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izu, Mark}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:American jazz double-bassists]]
[[Category:American male double-bassists]]
[[Category:American jazz composers]]
[[Category:American male jazz composers]]
[[Category:American musicians of Japanese descent]]
[[Category:Shō players]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from California]]
[[Category:21st-century American double-bassists]]
[[Category:21st-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in California]]
[[Category:People from Vallejo, California]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Composers from San Francisco]]


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