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Chrome Hill is a Norwegian jazz-rock band steeped in Americana that has spawned seven albums and many live performances. Chrome Hill is a quartet where also Torstein Lofthus on drums is a regular member, but he was unable to join the Norwegian tour in September 2024 due to other commitments during that time period.

This story begins with Asbjørn Lerheim and Roger Arntzen being stunned by Yagi’s performance on her electric 21-string and 17-string bass kotos at the legendary Roppongi club Super Deluxe in 2015, who played a duo set with the German drummer and Krautrock icon Mani Neumeier. Chrome Hill played a double bill there that same evening. They began entertaining the idea of incorporating Yagi’s unique sound into Chrome Hill’s music.

This was realized during the group’s next Japan tour, in 2019, when Chrome Hill invited Michiyo Yagi and drummer Noritaka Tanaka to join them at Koen-Dori Classics in Shibuya, Tokyo. The energy generated by all the musicians together were massive and inspiring, and the members of Chrome Hill couldn’t wait to come back to dig deeper into this collaboration.

When Chrome Hill returned to Japan in 2020 they were unable to bring the entire band, so they arrived in their alternate form, the Chrome Hill Duo, that operates as a semi-independent “chamber version” of the quartet. Meanwhile Tanaka had relocated southwest to Kyushu, so Yagi brought on board Tamaya Honda, her longstanding musical partner in the koto + drums power duo Dōjō as well as several other groups.

That Lerheim and Arntzen had brought some recording equipment to document their visit turned out to be a lucky strike, as you may conclude after hearing the recording of the Aketa No Misegig. Unfortunately, COVID-19 hit immediately afterward, and production had to be postponed for several years. But in 2023, the album was finally released.

Chrome Hill always wanted to present this collaboration to the Norwegian audience, and in 2024 the EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee Passport Program provided financial support for Lerheim and Arntzen to visit Japan again. The occasion was that Bodø, the home city of Arntzen, was one of the European Capitals of Culture this year. The visit and meetings was very fruitful, and we started to plan to bring Michiyo Yagi, Tamaya Honda and the producer Mark E. Rappaport to Norway during 2024.

The project support from EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee made this dream possible. We ended up playing seven concerts in Norway, and among them was Bodø, as a part of the program of the European Capital of Culture Bodø 2024 and the local jazz club Ad Lib. We also played at Skråplanet in the small village of Skjerstad. Besides the two concerts in the region of Bodø 2024 we played a concert in Oslo, at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene, which is the National Jazz Scene in Norway. The rest of the tour was at House of Foundation in Moss, Blyge Harryin Stavanger, Hamar Theater in Hamar, in cooperation with the Hamar Jazz Club, and last concert before Bodø was URO Hauger Kunstmuseum in Tønsberg, as a part of their Nonfigurativ Musikk concert series. The Norwegian guitar icon Eivind Aarset joined us as special guest on the concert in Tønsberg. In fact, Dōjō and Aarset have played concerts together before, but this was the first time that Chrome Hill and Aarset played together. This concert was very special to us, with many great musical moments and it was well received by the crowded audience.

In addition to the seven concerts, Rappaport, Yagi and Honda also held a workshop at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo. This was very exciting and fruitful for the students. Most of them have never heard a koto live before, not to mention that Yagi also plays the koto in a very unique way. Her koto is a 21-string electric koto, with a piezo microphone built into the instrument. She uses electronics, electric guitar effect stomp boxes, to get her very personal sound. At the workshop, Rappaport introduced the musicians and gave the students a brief history lesson about the koto, from the traditional way and the traditional koto repertoire, to the way that Yagi is playing her hyper-koto today. The students learned about her and Hondas musical backgrounds and their way to become two of the leading improvisers on the Japanese experimental jazz scene today. Dōjō ended the workshop by playing improvised music for the students, and two students also got the chance to play with Yagi and Honda.

Chrome Hill and Dōjō also did a studio recording at Amper Tone in Oslo. This is the first time that Chrome Hill records only free improvised music, and there is a strong wish to continue to develop this friendship and musical connection. We are already invited back to Tokyo by Dōjō. We think that the concerts in Norway, the days we spent together and the studio recording have strengthened the collaboration between Chrome Hill and Dōjō. We are looking forward to create more moments together in the future.