2016-05-19
7:30PM
n/a
"She has the enviable ability to play in any context with authenticity, clarity, and spontaneity." - Wilbert Sostre, JazzTimes
Yoko Miwa Trio
Featuring: Yoko Miwa on Piano
Brad Barrett on Acoustic Bass
Scott Goulding on Drums
Internationally acclaimed pianist, JVC Victor Entertainment recording artist, Yoko Miwa has spent the past decade honing one of the most musical trio sounds on the jazz scene. The group made its Blue Note NYC debut in 2014 to rave reviews. "Miwa had just as much fun sending the rhythm section away and swinging by herself as she did engaging in a tightly spiraling, interlocking web of melody pensively spacious minor-key blues, a scampering right hand against a stern left, tension and release around a central tone, intricately conversational interplay with the guys in her fantastic trio...She's fun to watch and just as tuneful." -- The New York Music Daily.
Act Naturally, the Yoko Miwa Trio's major label debut in Japan, came out in 2012 on the JVC Victor Entertainment label and the band toured Japan that same year. "She is one of the best jazz pianists in Japan," said Yozo Iwanami, Jazz Hihyo Magazine.
Yoko Miwa has played sold-out shows in the US and Japan. A favorite of Jazz at Lincoln Center, she was chosen to perform at their annual Jazz and Leadership Workshop for The National Urban League's Youth Summit this past July. She was also chosen to play on "Marian McPartland & Friends," a special concert at Dizzy's at Lincoln Center as part of The Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival. Miwa has also performed and/or recorded with Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lynne Carrington, Sheila Jordan, Kevin Mahogany, John Lockwood and Johnathan Blake.
A Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music where she has taught since 2011, Miwa was recently chosen from among 181 international candidates for a full-time position in Berklee's piano department.
Miwa has recorded six highly acclaimed CDs: In the Mist of Time (Tokuma, 2000); Fadeless Flower (Polystar, 2002); Canopy of Stars (Polystar, 2004); The Day We Said Goodbye, recorded live at the studios of WGBH-FM (Sunshine Digital, 2006); Live at Scullers (Jazz Cat Amnesty, 2011); and Act Naturally (JVC Victor Entertainment, 2012). On each CD one hears Miwa's distinct and powerful musical personality.
"Pianist Yoko Miwa displays unpretentious melodies, elegant phrasing, and the lyrical sensibility of a jazz poet."
-- Jazziz Magazine
"Simply a first class, straight up, straight ahead player whose sole mission is to step up and deliver the goods."
-- Midwest Record Review
"I greatly appreciate and respect the clarity and strength in Yoko's playing, it is very apparent - the honesty, care and depth of foundation she touches the piano with."
-- Benny Green
