Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

The indefatigable contemporary American composer Milton Babbitt passed away last Saturday (Jan.29, 2011). His compositions always maintained intellectual integrity, no matter how difficult. I once shared a long bus ride with him on the way back from Hakone to Tokyo after an international conference in 1982, where I had performed shakuhachi. We had an animated discussion about the inherent possibilities for contemporary expression in shakuhachi, gagaku and other Japanese music. He said he might be interested someday in writing for the shakuhachi. Unfortunately, I didn't follow up on his offer and now it is too late. The moral of the story? If you have a good idea, don't wait on it!