Album Release Concert April 15 in SF–Event Link.
Album pre-release available on bandcamp.

Volume I: Press Release Story 2017
Local Newspaper Article 2015

Bamboo Rising Album Release Show!
Sunday – April 15, 2018 | 4PM San Francisco

Pacific Exchange (a concert from Thingamajigs)
Cornelius Boots (shakuhachi/Taimu), Sophia Shen (pipa), and Soo Yeon Lyuh (haegeum)
CB solo set, collective improvisation and moderated talk with artists to follow performance.
NOHspace (Theater of Yugen)
2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Brown Paper Tickets Link
Facebook Event Link

World Shakuhachi Festival 2018
August 1st-4th, 2018 in London 

So much bamboo will be rising next summer in London!  Looking forward to meeting back up with the greater international shakuhachi community at this historic event.  Exactly what I will perform and teach is still TBD but I am hoping to present as much of my original bamboo gospel repertoire as possible in addition to collaborating and/or composing some new duos, trios, quartets and large shak ensemble works.  Ki cultivation, circular breathing, composing/arranging, shak-music-theory and improvisation are on my list of topics to teach or masterclass, beyond the obvious repertoire that I specialize in.  If you bamboo, we should see you: save the date!

World Bamboo Congress 2018
August 14th-18th, 2018 in Xalapa, Mexico 

The BAMBOO RISING WORLD TOUR continues in Mexico, where I will be offering a concert/presentation in the midst of this incredible gathering of visionaries, ecologists, farmers, architects, community leaders, activists, business leaders and much more:
http://worldbamboocongress.org/home/en/

September 21, 2018
Old First Church in San Francisco

Winds of Change -Autumn Equinox with 3 solo sets by Cornelius Boots (shakuhachi/Taimu), Beth Custer (clarinet, alto and bass clarinets) and Stephen Kent (didgeridoo) and of course, the inevitable group improvisation.  My return to the great local venue after a 9 years hiatus!

The Hot Breath of Life–as Music.

Bamboo Rising (Shakuhachi Unleashed Vol. II)
Solo Classic Rock Shakuhachi. Virtuosic Nature Hymns and Anthems.
Offering up the breadth of big bamboo’s breath-powered musicality.

“Step aside Mr. Tull, time for a rock flute that is rooty-er.”

A unique style of advanced, expressive woodwind performance: rustic classical, bamboo gospel. Original compositions and classic rock and metal arrangements–with the mojo intact.  Buddhist Blues.
World woodwind, avant-meditation, and advanced nature music.
New music/folk-blues.

Cover art and title inspired by Rainbow Rising, the epic, classic Rainbow album with Dio from 1976:

Featuring new, original compositions and tasty arrangements of Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Roky Erickson, Dio, Black Sabbath and more, all played on the unadorned, 5-hole, no mouthpiece, 100% bamboo (jinashi) shakuhachi—the robust woodwind of Zen Buddhism—and its baritone brother, Taimu. After Holy Flute, Bamboo Rising is the second album in the Shakuhachi Unleashed album trilogy. Classic rock and sacred nature music are brought together in the voice of this solo flute–the Japanese Zen shakuhachi–known for being evocative and provocative, ethereal, and very difficult to play.

This album is dedicated to Son House.

This album was funded by 74 very important supporters! Visit the crowdfunding page: www.indiegogo.com/projects/bamboo-rising-shakuhachi-unleashed-vol-ii-music-new/x/5709982#/

Credits: releases April 7, 2018

All performances, compositions (4, 6, 7, 11) and arrangements by Cornelius Boots.
The bamboo – 1.8 jinashi nobekan shakuhachi by Jon Kypros and 2.74 jinashi nobekan Taimu shakuhachi by Ken Mujitsu LaCosse.

Recorded July 22, 2017 at Stackhausen Haven
Berkeley, CA

Cornelius 深禅 Boots – revelator, producer, layout, coyotes &
crickets (Forest Knolls) and birds (Bohemian Paradise) recording
The Stikman – co-producer, mixing and mastering
Nakona Macdonald – illustrating and tattooing
Karen Stackpole – recording and mixing
Dan Spriggs – Australian frog recording
Derek Heming – audio fixer-upper
Felicia India Chavez – website, photo, awe and wonder
Ludo – whiskers and fuzz

Executive Producers:
Steve and Sandy Courtney, Ryan Goodpastor, Sue and Al Shockey, Ricardo Alzamora, CeCe and Bill Dietlein, Matthew Karl Heitz

The Backers:
Bainn & Harmony, Jeff Mee, Tanya Allen, Jonny Spoor, Patricia Tanoury, David F. Coury, Mr. Shannon Morrison: 74 total crowdfunders, you know who you are!

SPECIAL THANKS:
Shinzen Shakuhachi Students
Rabbit Moon Tea Arts
Ken Mujitsu LaCosse
Faun Frykdahls & Isabel Douglass
World Shakuhachi Festival, Jim & Kiku
Lara Miranda & Jason Ditzian
Michael Chikuzen Gould
David N. Baker
Buddha Dharma University
Angelo Moore, Ian Anderson, Eric Dolphy
Etta James, James Brown, Ronnie James Dio
Watazumido

Track-by-track:

1 – Run to the Hills – Iron Maiden
2 – The Wayward Meteor – Man or Astroman?
3 – Obscured by Clouds – Pink Floyd
4 – Baby Bear Drinks Tea – Cornelius Boots
5 – One Brown Mouse – Jethro Tull
6 – Green Swampy Water – Cornelius Boots
7 – Snake Dreams of Dragon – Cornelius Boots
8 – Sycamore Trees – David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti
9 – Creature with the Atom Brain – Roky Erickson
10 – Shadow of the Wind – Black Sabbath with Dio
11 – The Greening of Mount Subasio – Cornelius Boots
12 – Hung from the Moon – Earth
13 – Over the Hills and Far Away – Led Zeppelin
14 – Freebird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

“Let Nature be thy guide.”
– M. Maier, Atalanta Fugiens (1617) 

“There is something innately intriguing about bamboo.”
– Susanne Lucas, Bamboo

“Music without which this world would not exist.”
– Stephen Harrod Buhner, Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm