Jazz Articles about Miles Okazaki

About Miles Okazaki

Album Review

For many people, jazz represents in music the fulcrum of the scale that balances the attraction between body and mind. This continuum allows for a “big tent" approach, whereby one can find a place that is comfortable and expand out if one desires. Mirror, guitarist Miles Okazaki's self-produced debut release, has all the markings of a deeply searching, highly emotional musician whose music nevertheless is the natural outgrowth of an intellectual curiosity that encompasses many fields, including ...

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Live Review

Miles Okazaki at the Jazz Gallery

by Budd Kopman
April 21, 2007

Miles OkazakiJazz GalleryNew York, NYThursday, April 12, 2007 The Jazz Gallery is a small place which offers the audience intimacy in a low key setting. Although Miles Okazaki's album Mirror has been available for a while, this gig was for its official release. The lineup is basically the same as the album, except that Morgan replaces Jon Flaugher. The combination of three high-pitched woodwinds is a bit unusual, but Knoche played ...

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Take Five With...

Take Five With Miles Okazaki

by AAJ Staff
February 8, 2007

Meet Miles Okazaki:Miles Okazaki lives in Brooklyn, where he plays guitar, writes music, and draws pictures.Instrument:GuitarTeachers and/or influences?Teachers: Rodney Jones, Ganesh Kumar, Michael Townsend, Steve Coleman, my fellow musicians and friends.Influences: It's a hard question...right now I will say, Melody: J.S. Bach, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Milton Nascimento, Beatles, Nikhil Banerjee, Ornette Coleman; Harmony: Thelonious Monk, J.S. Bach (again), Messaien, Bartok, Coltrane, Elliott Carter, Morton Feldman, ...

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Album Review

Miles Okazaki: Mirror

by John Kelman
December 31, 2006

Sometimes artists' most obvious credentials say little about who they really are. Guitarist Miles Okazaki has been singer Jane Monheit's guitarist since 2002, but anyone who expects Mirror to reflect a similarly standards-heavy inclination will be seriously surprised. Whether or not in a good way depends on one's own predilections, but for those wanting greater breadth and depth, Okazaki's debut as a leader represents a welcome departure from Monheit's mainstream approach. Okazaki's mathematical compositional approach reflects a ...

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Album Review

Miles Okazaki: Mirror

Read "Mirror" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
December 1, 2006

Mirror is the culmination of five years of work, and the results are simply outstanding. A finalist in the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition, Miles Okazaki is an active musician in New York who is involved in a variety of projects, including his regular recording and touring gigs with jazz vocalist Jane Monheit. Though he's been busy on other fronts, he's also stayed focused on his own ideas as a musician and composer. Okazaki states ...