Recorded live... at the Asia Society in New York, Family showcases Brown’s gifts as both writer and percussionist... Brown’s music opens new vistas on the Asian American jazz front.”

   — San Francisco Bay Guardian

Recorded live in New York in 1996, Family features two original extended works composed by Anthony Brown and performed by his quintet “Eclipse” with San Jose Taiko.

Anthony Brown’s Liner Notes to “Family”

Recorded live in New York City in 1996, Family features two original extended works composed by Anthony Brown and performed by his quintet Eclipse with San Jose Taiko. 

The first piece, E.O. 9066 (which was Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII) commemorates the courageous spirit of those unjustly imprisoned and ends on a celebratory note with hope for a future that will not see the imprisonment of children.

The second piece, Never Again (Mo, Shimasen!) was commissioned by the Asian Heritage Council and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The work combines musical influences from Japan and West Africa, cultures in which drums play a central role. The piece was written to represent basic life forces, with the drums signifying the heartbeat and the wind instruments the breath of life. The title expresses the plea of successive generations of children that they never experience the horror of nuclear war. 

The finale is an anthem in celebration of the indomitable human spirit rising from the ashes of ruin in rebirth and rejuvenation.

     — Anthony Brown, Ph.D.