Yoko Miwa - In the Mist of Time

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:30
Size: 138,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:48)  1. Fragmented Memories
(9:14)  2. The Deep End
(4:55)  3. I'm Okay
(8:07)  4. Alice
(7:51)  5. In the Mist of Time
(8:12)  6. When will 'it' Happen
(6:48)  7. Promise
(5:26)  8. Oak Square Blues
(3:05)  9. Red Dragonfly

An internationally recognized jazz pianist, Yoko Miwa plays with a lyrical, yet still harmonically sophisticated style, deeply rooted in the acoustic post-bop tradition. She first gained wider attention after moving to Boston in the late '90s, and backing artists like Kevin Mahogany, George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, and others. Influenced by players like Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Herbie Hancock, she has issued a handful of warmly rendered trio albums, including 2004's Fadeless Flower, 2017's Pathways, and 2019's Keep Talkin'. Born in 1970 in Kobe, Japan, Miwa started out early on the piano taking classical lessons (as well as voice lessons) from age four. After high school, she attended the Osaka College of Music where she first met and studied with jazz organist/pianist Minoru Ozone, father of noted pianist Makoto Ozone. Under Ozone's guidance she became increasingly interested in jazz and gained valuable experience working at his Kobe-based nightclub and music school. After the 1995 Kobe earthquake destroyed Ozone's establishments, Miwa enrolled at Japan's Koyo Conservatory of Music where she focused full-time on jazz. The following year, she won a scholarship to Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee, she studied jazz theory and performance, and developed a lasting creative partnership with vocalist and teacher Kevin Mahogany.

Upon graduating college in 1999, Miwa joined the Berklee faculty and continued to work alongside Mahogany (until his death in 2017). She also began playing locally, leading her own trio and working as the pianist in the house band at Cambridge's Ryles Jazz Club. Her first album as a leader, In the Mist of Time, was released in Japan on the Tokuma label in 2001. It found her working with drummer Scott Goulding, bassist Massimo Biolcati, and tenor saxophonist Tim Mayer. Her second album, 2003's Fadeless Flower, found her paring down to a trio with Goulding and bassist Greg Loughman. Along with studio sessions, Miwa has kept a busy live schedule, appearing regularly at festivals and New York's Blue Note Jazz Club. She has performed with an array of luminaries, including George Garzone, Sheila Jordan, Jerry Bergonzi, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, and others. In 2005, she released another trio effort, Canopy of Stars, which again found her working with Goulding, as well as bassists Biolcati and Bronislaw Suchanek. The concert album Live at Scullers Jazz Club appeared in 2011, followed in 2017 by the studio effort Pathways. In 2019, she was named the Boston Music Awards Jazz Artist of the Year, as well as the Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll winner. She issued her fifth trio album, Keep Talkin', the same year. ~ Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/artist/yoko-miwa-mn0000540283/biography

Personnel: Piano – Yoko Miwa; Bass – Massimo Biolcati ; Drums – Scott Goulding;  Tenor Saxophone – Tim Mayer (tracks: 2, 6, 8)

In the Mist of Time

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Yoko Miwa - Canopy of Stars

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:13
Size: 120,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:37)  1. La Estacion
(5:28)  2. Canopy of Stars
(5:09)  3. Solitude
(5:51)  4. Borders
(5:09)  5. Waltz for Willy
(4:34)  6. Tango Soledad
(4:39)  7. Appalachian Trail (North)
(3:07)  8. Behind the Clouds
(4:56)  9. Secret Sources
(4:00) 10. The Silver Screen
(4:38) 11. Appalachian Trail (South)

Japanese-born, Boston-based pianist Yoko Miwa follows up her 2004 release, Fadeless Flower (Polystar Records) with A Canopy of Stars, building on her crisply incisive percussive approach that bubbles with warm melodies and an array of colors, whether on the bright Brazilian-flavored opener, "La Estacion," or the melancholic, dark-hued "Solitude," which features bassist Bronek Suchenek bowing the melody. Miwa takes the same tune and remakes it into a tango handling the melody herself on "Tango Soledad." Miwas's more abstract side is displayed on "Appalachian Trail (North)," with a churning, Brad Mehldau flavor, and its sister tune, "Appalachian Trail (South)," that feels a bit more propulsive. "Canopy of Stars" projects an expansive atmosphere. While "Borders" features one of Miwa's prettiest melodies, her piano work underlain by a sizzling, insistent bass/drum rhythm, Miwa's keyboard work dances with effusive energy. "Waltz for Willie" adds a contemplative mood to the musical proceedings, as does "Behind the Clouds," while "Silver Screen" projects an expansiveness similar to that expressed by the title tune. Miwa writes attractive melodies and plays with a mixture of delicate grace and percussive energy. Canopy of Stars, her third CD release, shows an artist who is clearly coming into her own. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/canopy-of-stars-yoko-miwa-self-produced-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Yoko Miwa: piano; Massimo Biolcati: acoustic bass; Scott Goulding: drums; Bronek Suchanek: acoustic bass (3, 4).

Canopy of Stars

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Yoko Miwa Trio - Keep Talkin'

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:58
Size: 170,7 MB
Art: Front

( 4:16)  1. Keep Talkin'
( 6:32)  2. In Walked Bud
( 6:25)  3. Secret Rendezvous
( 6:09)  4. Sunset Lane
( 6:25)  5. Boogie Stop Shuffle
( 7:52)  6. Golden Slumbers / You Never Give Me Your Money
( 6:06)  7. Tone Portrait
( 5:52)  8. Casa Pre-Fabricada
( 7:32)  9. Conversation
( 6:38) 10. If You're Blue
(10:08) 11. Sunshine Follows the Rain

Pianist Yoko Miwa was born in Japan, but she has set up shop in Boston, where she teaches at Berklee College of Music. She has also beginning in 2003 with Fadeless Flower (Polystar Records) previously released seven CDs. The superb Keep Talkin' brings that number of recorded offerings from Miwa to eight. The music of Keep Talkin' says that Miwa has fully embraced an American state of mind, beginning with the title tune, a Miwa original that sounds like something out of the hard-grooving Horace Silver songbook. Or add some horns and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers could come to mind. And apparent right out of the gate: Miwa and her trio play with joy. An especially spritely take on Thelonious Monk's "In Walked Bud" is up next, with a fierce momentum and an assured improvisational gusto from Miwa, aided and abetted by muscular and spicy rhythm from bassist Will Slater and drummer Scott Goulding.

The pianist is in fine form as a composer, offering up six of her own tunes, along with inspired covers of music from the previously mentioned Monk; from Charles Mingus ("Boogie Stop Shuffle"); Joni Mitchell ("Conversations"); and the Brazilian singer/composer guitarist Marcelo Camelo ("Casa Pre-Fabricada"). The album hits its highlight with the eight minute "Golden Slumbers/You Never Give Me Your Money" medley, from the Beatles songbook. The pairing of two of Paul McCartney's loveliest melodies works to perfection in this trio's hands, beginning with a stately and straight up reading on "Slumbers" that transitions into the dreamier "Money," leading into Miwa's searching and assertive improvisation, with the bass and drums cooking on high heat, pushing hard back into "Slumbers." 

The set closes with Miwa's "Sunshine Follows The Rain," with Brad Barrett sitting in on bass, for a pensive and melancholy, yet hopeful and gorgeous close out to a marvelous piano trio outing. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/keep-talkin-yoko-miwa-ocean-blue-tear-music-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Yoko Miwa: piano; Will slater: acoustic bass; Scott Goulding: drums; Brad Barrett: acoustic bass (11).

Keep Talkin'

Zippyshare                  

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Yoko Miwa Trio - Live at Scullers Jazz Club

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:55
Size: 176,7 MB
Art: Front

(11:07)  1. This Could Be the Start of Something
(12:03)  2. Wheel of Life
(11:23)  3. Mr. B.G.
( 5:06)  4. Seasons of Wither
( 8:00)  5. Who Loves the Sun
( 9:36)  6. Silent Promise
(10:25)  7. Mox Nix
( 9:13)  8. A Festa

Is live always better? Does the no second takes, out-on-a-limb aspect of playing in front of a live audience, and feeding off its energy result in the best recordings? It seems to work that way for Boston-based pianist Yoko Miwa on Live At Scullers Jazz Club, a mix of tunes from The Great American Songbook and the world of rock, shuffled in with her own outstanding compositions. An original pressing of a hundred copies of the show done as a memento for the audience members this particular night garnered such a positive response that Miwa decided to have the music remixed and mastered for a general release. Miwa displays an impressive stylistic range. Opening with a rousing take of Steve Allen's "This Could Be the Start of Something," the pianist and her trio mix a bouncy elegance with a full-bore forward momentum. Miwa treats the melody with reverence, riding a inexorable rhythmic wave supplied by bassist Greg Loughman and drummer Scott Goulding. Virtuosic but unrelentingly accessible, the pianist stretches out, taking eleven minutes to explore this Great American Songbook gem with glorious grace.  Miwa, in the manner of fellow pianist Brad Mehldau, is no jazz snob. She doesn't limit herself to the standards. She covers Steven Tyler's (of Aerosmith) dark toned "Seasons of Wither," giving the tune sparkle, and turns in a pensively beautiful rendition of Lou Reed's Velvet Underground song, "Who Loves the Sun?," featuring the trio at its most interactive. Miwa adds three of her own top-notch compositions to the mix. "The Wheel of Life" rises and falls to mirror the vicissitudes, struggles, joys and sorrows of human existence. "Mr. B. G." is a nod to pianist Benny Green and, through Green, his mentor Oscar Peterson, with an ebullient groove and Miwa's exquisitely succinct touch. Trumpeter Art Farmer's "Mox Nix" shows off Miwa's ability to get deep into the blues and play with a muscular left hand percussion married to a lightning fast right hand, before ending with vocalist Milton Nascimento's "A Festa." It's a saucy closer, with the trio immersing itself in a gorgeous Brazilian groove to wrap up a stunningly spontaneous live set, Miwa's best recording to date. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-at-scullers-jazz-club-yoko-miwa-self-produced-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Yoko Miwa: piano; Greg Loughman: bass; Scott goulding: drums.

Live at Scullers Jazz Club

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Yoko Miwa Trio - Pathways

Size: 166,2 MB
Time: 71:57
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz: Piano Jazz
Art: Front

01. Log O' Rhythm ( 7:37)
02. Lickety Split ( 9:30)
03. Court And Spark (10:54)
04. The Goalkeeper ( 6:52)
05. After You ( 9:52)
06. Lantern Light (11:54)
07. Was It Something I Said ( 6:31)
08. Dear Prudence ( 8:45)

It sounds like Boston-based pianist Yoko Miwa gathered her trio mates bassist Will Slater and drummer Scott Goulding outside the studio door and said: "Let's have some fun!" The result is Pathways, her seventh release as a leader, in a discography that includes Fadeless Flower (Self Produced, 2004), Canopy Of Stars (Self Produced, 2007, and Live At Sculler's Jazz Club (Self Produced, 2011).

If ever there was a studio recording with the freshness and vitality of a live set, this is it. The group dynamic bounces with joy, and Oscar Peterson and Benny Green come to mind, stylistically, with Miwa's always engaging melodies dancing around propulsive rhythms. This is Yoko Miwa at her extroverted best. The trio is a relentless forward motion machine on the Marc Johnson-penned "Log O 'Rhythm." There is muscle in Miwa's delivery, mixed with an elegant melodic grace, as she proves herself, again, to be a stellar interpreter of tunes not her own.

Miwa's own "Lickety Split" showcases the pianist powering down chords with a nail gun intensity, while her right hand gives off off sparks.

"Court And Spark," from Joni Mitchell's groundbreaking 1974 Asylum Records album of the same name, reigns in the momentum, but not the beauty. Mitchell's songs are oddly gorgeous, different than anything anybody else writes. Miwa keeps the colors in the dark end of the spectrum on the most inward piece on this set.

The trio revisits the Marc Johnson songbook with "After You," a light-stepping, light-hearted, Latin-esque romp, leading into the Miwa-penned "Lantern Light," full of subdued majesty tinted with melancholy.

Miwa wraps it up with The Beatles (John Lennon's) "Dear Prudence," with Brad Barrett replacing Will Slater in the bass slot. A measured pace and powerful percolation back Miwa's stormy piano work, to close out her finest recording to date. ~Dan McClenaghan

Personnel: Yoko Miwa: piano; Will Slater: bass; Scott Goulding: drums Brad Barrett: bass (8).

Pathways                 

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