Day 13 - Final Performance @ KD Hapon

Tonight was the final performance at KD Hapon in Nagoya. The horn players were unable to attend this concert because of travel expenses, so we'd be performing as a quartet. We also decided to play one set as a trio, revisiting standards we all enjoyed playing. The piano unfortunately was not very pleasant to play on, it was an old Kawai upright that was very bright and had poor action. Despite that, we had an amazing opening act for us a Japanese vocal/piano duo called "Flux & Flow". They performed some amazing original material and finished with a beautiful rendition of the standard "Bye, Bye, Blackbird". It was very inspiring. After, we performed selections of our music that Masato Shinohara felt comfortable playing, and we had a great first set. The second set was a bit more shaky, due the to sound quality being not very good, but we made it through, and the audience seemed very happy. Unfortunately, we found out after the concert that the venue charged us 8,000 yen (about $70) for use of their piano and drum set. We were totally unaware of this, and they waited till after the concert to inform us. This was very disrespectful, and definitely an exception for a music venue, most of which would never charge the musicians such an outrageous fee, but we swallowed our pride, and left without putting up any resistance. We were genuinely drained from the tour, and needed rest for the long day of traveling ahead of us to get back home. Overall, it was an amazing learning experience, we met a lot of amazing people, and a discovered more about ourselves as musicians and human beings. Thanks to everyone who helped make this cultural outreach program a success! Sayonara!