I came across these two players.
Surprised as both of them are both Japanese players (a guitar player and shamisen player)
EXCELLENT FIND Kevin! I’ve been listening to blues these days and thinking about playing some more on my shamisen. Great feeling, but not sure if it was the recording or not but I find it hard to beat the guitar when it comes to blues due to the warmth of it. Of course, blues shaminists (is that the word we should use btw?) are probably not many and therefore there aren’t enough players to really judge its potential when it comes to the blues genre.
Also, in the first vid I felt he was keeping the tempo too fast. You could hear that she was struggling with making it sound good. It was very evident once he stopped playing.
Yet, I loved every second of the clips 
Too bad they only play in Australia =p
I would wish they could play in New York for a special event
Yes amazing stuff! I love these fusions.
I just think they still need a lot more working… Like my dream of making Jazz music with shamisen but i’ve not yet seen any REALLY good performances of jazz and shamisen… Like this video here the guitar player was amazing and the shamisen player was amazing AND the music they made was amazing, BUT i still think it needs more working and different approach with the shamisen… Or playing in different way… Catch my meaning (Like quieter guitar and not the normal approach on shamisen and instead something different)? Like if i’m ever going to make Jazz music with shamisen i think i need a more Mellow sound like REALLY mellow the kind of mellow that shamisen has yet to seen 
Need some improvements on the shamisen even maybe? Bigger shamisen… Different kind of koma… All those sort of things because shamisen is so flexible and it’s evolving everyday!
So yeah i support these fusion’s very much and i’m just saying that if one of us makes these fusions keep working on it and we’ll create something mindblowing!
shaminist “no not shaman” sounds cool or shamisenator (after all I am austrian and they opened an arnold museum at schwarzenegger’s birthplace Thal (near Graz) or about 10 miles away from here I have yet to check it out though)
AHahahaha! That’s Noriko San. We’ve all met her on several occasions every year. Small world! Small world! Hahah! That’s fun! Years ago she used to write to me asking about shamisen and rock/blues etc. I didn’t know who she was at that time but later I we met in Japan and heard her play and realized how serious she was, especially about the blues stuff.
And another coincidence?
Grant and I are on our way to see her in a few days
(grant reimer ) well, her and about 500 other of Japan’s best Shamisen players.
I will try to convince her to film a short message for bachido and will be sure to tell her about this post when I see her. She will get a kick out of this for sure.
Ortjo,
How much jazz shamisen have you listened to?
I guess your point was there doesn’t seem to be much “good” examples.
But there are a lot of examples out there if you look.
I have personally produced a pretty good crop of videos demonstrating
Jazz standards as well as Improvisation examples on the Shamisen.
Mike penny has some interesting stuff. We have done stuff solo, in groups
And even with jazz ensemble. Keisho Ohno too and of course hiromitsu Agatsuma.
Hanamas with Hanawa Chie has done some jazz. Even Yamada Chisato was known to collaborate with jazz musicians back in the 60s. Michihiro Sato too.
Not to mention Oyama, Nitta and the jazz tunes we did in monsters of shamisen.
The main issue with shamisen seems to pop up when the standard Tsugaru phrases and licks are incorporated over jazz chord changes. People like Mike P. and I have studied western classical and jazz theory so we know how to melodically navigate the standard material (flat 5 substitution patterns etc.) but most players who learned Shamisen in Japan are clueless that a Dom. 7th sub implies shifting into myxolydian mode and superimposing various scales over various chords. So the disappointing result is too often a haphazard display of traditional Japanese melodies arranged in a incoherent jumble over a straight forward jazz progression.
Perhaps you, in your search will help to create a more coherent jazz style.
Personally I think the justification would be a style that keeps the Japanese flavor
While still acknowledging the subtleties of the jazz harmony.
Kevin.
Thanks for the feedback… I think i need to dig deeper into your and Mike’s channels and look into those names you gave me and yeah i’ve heard a lot of Hiromitsu Agatsuma and he sure has some nice pieces with a jazzy twist but still i guess i’m looking for perfection or something
Personally I think the justification would be a style that keeps the Japanese flavor
While still acknowledging the subtleties of the jazz harmony.
Yeah i feel the same it needs to keep the japanese feeling
And yeah i’m not any kind of jazz expert or even remotely close to it but i enjoy good jazz music like: Lenny Marcus - Jazzaphrenia (check it out it’s awesome :P)
You know a lot more about jazz than i 
but i’m aiming to a nice improvisational approach to jazz and shamisen… Maybe i’ll succeed maybe i won’t
BUT when i create something it WILL pop up here and i will be very happy to hear what you think about it
Absolutely ! Looking forward to hearing some of your up n coming creations.
One thing I notice is because of the percussive quality shamisen seems to blend well with genres like gypsy jazz more so than standard radio-friendly jazz.
Mike penny hs got a pretty good hold on that kind of style.
Yeah but this is the reason i’m looking to maybe even shape the shamisen a bit… to get less sharp sound and not so percussive… Or maybe keep the percussive but use it with patience :DD
i’ve not heard of gypsy jazz but i will check Mike’s channel in youtube 
(thanks for all the tips and comments)
One thing I have found is that by messing with the amplified tone of shamisen through speakers a wide variety of tones become available. My personal opinion is that if you turn up the Mid setting while turning down the treble and bass and add a good amount of reverb you end up with a nice example of a more subtle jazzy sound.
hmm got to try that out thanks