Home » Member Page
Miho Hazama
Jazz composer/arranger
About Me
Grammy-nominated composer, Miho Hazama is one of the most promising and talented
composers/arrangers of her generation. Lauded in Downbeat as one of “25 for the Future”, Miho developed
her signature jazz chamber orchestra “m_unit”. Now having three full length releases on Universal Music
Japan/ Sunnyside Records, Miho has written for and expertly showcased the abilities of guest artists such as
Joshua Redman, Lionel Loueke, Stefon Harris, and Gil Goldstein, to name a few. Her debut album received
the Jazz JAPAN rising star award, and she has been featured in such influential publications as Downbeat,
The New York Times, NPR, JazzTimes among others. The m_unit’s third album “Dancer In Nowhere” was
nominated to the 62nd GRAMMY Awards.
Composition is her true calling, and in addition to her effort with m_unit, she has created works for many
different musical contexts. Most notably, she has composed for Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ashley
Bouder Project Ballet Company, Yamaha Symphonic Band, to name a few. Miho became a composer in
residence of Siena Wind Orchestra in 2017, and she is a composer of the year 2019 of Orchestra Ensemble
Kanazawa.
In 2019, Miho took up a post as the chief conductor of Danish Radio Big Band (DR Big Band) after Thad
Jones, Bob Brookmeyer and Jim McNeely, to name a few. Miho released the first album featuring DR Big
Band “Imaginary Visions” in 2021.
Miho also became the permanent guest conductor of Metropole Orkest in 2020. Besides them, Miho has
worked as a conductor with WDR Big Band, Clasijazz Orchestra and Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, to
name a few. She is the Associate Artistic Director of the New York Jazzharmonic.
As an arranger, Miho has worked for many ensembles for concerts, recordings, television and film, including
Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vince Mendoza, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Shiro Sagisu and many more.
Miho’s awards and honors include the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize (2015), 24th Idemitsu Music
Award (2014), ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award (2011), and she was a Scholarship Recipient of the
Manhattan School of Music (2010). She has a degree in classical composition from the Kunitachi College of
Music and a masters degree in jazz composition from the Manhattan School of Music, and was honored by
the Scholarship Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists from the Japanese Agency for Cultural
Affairs.