Densho Digital Repository - Amy Uyematsu Interview II (Densho ID: ddr-densho-524-17)

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BN: One thing I wanted to ask you about is you wrote about doing some readings with Taiji Miyagawa, who's a jazz bass player. And there's definitely a musicality to a lot of your pieces. And I wondered how that came about and how that went and how the reaction to that was.

AU: I don't remember the exact event where Taiji and I met, but I associate him with UCLA in the... this would have been maybe in the late '80s. Because by the time my book came out, I knew him well enough to ask if he would accompany me at my book reading for 30 Miles, which was at JANM. So I've been lucky to have Taiji accompany me for every book except the current book. And maybe that'll happen, too, who knows? But it's just been great. I mean, he's just a very interesting person to know, a wide wealth of knowledge, so a lot of times we're just gabbing away on this and that. And then when we get to the poems, he decides musically what kind of melody or background he feels will go with that piece, and then he'll try it out. And I think he goes home, and he tapes me, and I think, too, he practices different things at home where he hears me reciting the poem when he does it. Besides it just being nice to get together with Taiji, I think he's helped my performance over the years. Because he can make suggestions about pacing, slowing down, going faster in some places, things like that, that make the reading more effective. And I think, I hope I picked up some of those things over the years.

BN: Does that collaboration actually influence your writing? Are you sometimes thinking about that performance as you write?

AU: No, because usually the collaboration comes... when I have a reading set up, Taiji's going to be coming, and I show him the poems we're going to be doing. So he takes those poems and then comes up with these ideas of how to play with it. And I like his, how he chooses to accompany me. And sometimes he might be using his bow, other times he just might be tapping the body of the bass. So it's interesting.