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Yoko Ono Releasing Free Album When New Sculpture Revealed In Jackson Park

By Sam Cholke | September 28, 2016 5:54am
 Yoko Ono has produced a new album of her music with Chicago musicians to coincide with the opening of her new artwork in Jackson Park in October.
Yoko Ono has produced a new album of her music with Chicago musicians to coincide with the opening of her new artwork in Jackson Park in October.
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Courtesy of Project 120, inset Flickr/ejmc

JACKSON PARK — Yoko Ono is producing a new album that will be released for free next month when her new “Sky Landing” installation is unveiled in Jackson Park.

Bob Karr, president of Project 120, the nonprofit that is bringing Ono’s art to Wooded Island in the park, said Tuesday that Ono is working a group of Chicago musicians on the album.

“Sky Landing,” 10 metal petals reminiscent of a lotus between two grassy berms, is Ono’s first permanent art installation in the Americas.

Karr said it will open to the public sometime in October and the project has expanded to include an album of Ono’s music and more digital projects.

He would provide few details on whether Ono actually performs on the album or whether she has written new songs, but said she produced that album of her songs and it is now finished.

 Yoko Ono's
Yoko Ono's "Sky Landing" will open in Jackson Park in October.
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Courtesy of the Chicago Park District

Bassist and composer Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project forms the core of the performers on the album, according to social media posts by Project 120 and several of the collaborators.

Though the lineup of the Miyumi Project has changed over the years, the recording sessions appear to have included many musicians from Chicago’s jazz and avante garde scenes.

The group performed some of Ono’s compositions at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Sept. 20. Many of the performers from that show, including Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson, Jaime Kempkers, Kioto, and Coco Elysses, are also in pictures of the recording sessions.

Recording started on Sept. 10 with a version of “Rising” from Ono’s 1996 album of the same name, according to videos posted on the Project 120 Facebook page.

Japanese drumming ensemble Tsukasa Taiko, also based in Chicago, went in to the Chicago Recording Company, 232 E. Ohio St., to play on the album, according to the group’s Facebook page.

Karr said details would be released in the coming days about when Ono’s sculpture would be opened to the public and how the new album would be available.

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