Jazz Articles about Yoko Miwa

Yoko Miwa Trio: Pathways

by Jerome Wilson
May 30, 2017

Yoko Miwa is a pianist operating in the Boston area whose stylistic reach touches on funky gospel, bluesy bebop and dramatic pomp. She and her long time trio jump out nicely from the first track, the surging gospel rhythms of Marc Johnson's “Log O'Rhythm," drummer Scott Goulding providing a solid shuffle foundation to Miwa's pounding. They also have fun cascading up and down on another Johnson tune, “After All" later on the disc.Miwa's original melodies on this disc ...

Yoko Miwa Trio: Pathways

by Dan McClenaghan
April 30, 2017

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 ...

Mind

by Gordon Marshall
December 2, 2012

For Yoko MiwaShe knocked me out for a yeartook me to the tombsof Egypt, where she embalmedthe brains of the first tribeof jazz... with kindest careshe put them in their jarslabeled calligraphicallywith multi-colored lettersindicating Duke and 'Tranein a quicksand of sadness they reign,under her sash of silkin all her sweet milk,nursing it all in ...

November (for Yoko Miwa)

by Gordon Marshall
November 30, 2011

On the ebony off-keys, your hands,your head in a veil of black mist, tonicto your turquoise evening gown. Poised as a turtle dove on an eave,you press an index finger on the ivory,liberating a passel of scales zooming down like falcons in a swarm,your colony and command,to a Japanese baseball diamond playing field for a perfect game,blossoming cherries shaking

Yoko Miwa: New Star in an Old Sky

by Gordon Marshall
November 29, 2011

Self-effacing but with healthy ambition--and genuinely glamorous--pianist Yoko Miwa is a shimmering study in contrasts. Her music is loyal to sources and roots, yet it is fresh and sexy. Everything is in balance in her work. On a most elemental level she is like a graceful hostess at a grand party, catering to the desires of all; on a deeper level she is an architect. Imagine, far from her native Kobe, Japan, a dilapidated ballroom, say, in Detroit. Say it ...

Yoko Miwa Trio: Live at Scullers Jazz Club

by Dan McClenaghan
October 27, 2011

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 ...

Yoko Miwa Trio: Canopy of Stars

by Michael P. Gladstone
January 22, 2008

Born in Kobe, Japan but now a Boston area resident, pianist Yoko Miwa offers up another tasty collection of originals for her third release. She is accompanied by her longstanding trio of bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Scott Goulding, drums with bassist Bronek Suchanek subbing on two tracks.

In a typically interesting series of tunes, the ballad “Solitude" (not the Duke Ellington standard) begins with bassist Suchanek's arco statement and solo. A variation of that composition “Tango Soledad," ...