Miki Hayama

Miki Hayama is a GRAMMY Nominated piano/keyboard player, arranger and musical director, born in Kyoto, Japan, lives in NYC.

She graduated from Osaka College of Music where majored in classical piano, and studied jazz piano with renowned jazz pianist Sadayasu Fujii in Kyoto. After graduated from College, she started to work at many Jazz clubs in Kansai area. Her ambition to pursue Jazz didn't stop her but made her move to New York. Since 2003, Ms. Hayama has been busy making quite a respected name for herself on New York's jazz scene. She has toured and shared the stage with many greats —Kenny Garrett, Ralph Peterson, Sean Jones, Tia Fuller, Michael Dease, Vincent Herring, Bruce Williams, Roy Hargrove, JD Allen, Greg Osby, Cindy Blackman-Santana, Nnenna Freelon, Jazzmeia Horn, Christian McBride, Eric Harland, Gary Thomas, and even the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin to name a few. Her own 2006 sophomore release "Prelude to a Kiss" received a five-star rating in Swing Journal. Her 3rd studio album "Wide Angle" got Swing Journal's Gold Disc Award in March 2009, Best Production Award in January, 2010. She plays on many recordings as a side person includes on Tia Fuller's "Pillar of Strength" and "Healing Space", Sharel Casity's "Evolve", Mimi Jones's "A New Day" and "Balance", Michael Dease Big Band's "Relentless", Nnenna Freelon's "Christmas". She worked as a musical director as well as an arranger and keyboardists on Nnenna Freelon's new studio album " Time Traveler " which was released on May 21, 2021, and won the Grammy nomination.

"Miki Hayama is an amazing young pianist with great chops, a great harmonic concept and a great imagination ! " piano master Kenny Barron recently observed. She also plays Hammond organ with Gospel Choir at the Cathedral United Baptist Church in Bronx.

Awards

First prize winner at Yokohama Jazz Promenade Competition, Senzoku Gakuen Award, Swing Journal Gold Disc Award, Swing Journal Best Production Award. Grammy nominated for piano / keyboard, arranger and musical director for the Best Jazz Vocal Album " Time Traveler" By Nnenna Freelon

Eli Howell: Steps Taken

Read "Steps Taken" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 4, 2026

Picture this: Having assembled a supporting cast, finalized the playlist and booked a studio, you are ready to make the debut recording as leader of your own ensemble, only to learn that, hours earlier, said studio in East Lansing, Michigan, had been devastated by a tornado. That is exactly what happened to trombonist Eli Howell in May 2025. Fortunately, thanks to some quick thinking and deft maneuvering by album producer Michael Dease and others, a room was found at Howell's ...

Album Review

Harvie S: Bright Dawn

Read "Bright Dawn" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 3, 2026

At a time when economics often dictates the size and scope of a jazz group, adding a guitarist to a typical piano-bass-drums trio makes a world of difference. And when said guitarist is Peter Bernstein, the difference is even more pronounced. That gives bassist Harvie S a clear headstart on Bright Dawn, a modest studio date with Bernstein broadening the usual trio setting on the bassist's 21st recording as leader of his own ensemble--the first, however, following a 15-year hiatus. ...

Album Review

Lakecia Benjamin: We Dream

Read "We Dream" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
May 29, 2026

In a genre full of peaceniks, Lakecia Benjamin is a killer. Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, has exploded over the course of the 2020's--both figuratively and musically. Her sound is brash and resonant, yet delicately composed and precisely structured. Benjamin is a focused musician, with all of her artistic choices brimming with intent, and the results are positively thrilling. She has become one of contemporary jazz's most popular and revered alto saxophonists, and she is just ...

Album Review

Lakecia Benjamin: We Dream

Read "We Dream" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 28, 2026

Lakecia Benjamin is clearly pulling no punches on We Dream. Not that she ever has, given a discography that includes 2020's Pursuance: The Coltranes (Ropeadope Records); 2012's intoxicating, groove-crazy Retox (Motema) or the spellbinding sister releases Phoenix (Whirlwind, 2023) and the super stoked Phoenix ReImagined (Live) (Ropeadope Records, 2024). We Dream drops the mic and leaves the rest up to the listener: What are you going to do to make the world a better place today? Excitable and ...

Album Review

Kate McGarry, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, Lois Deloatch, Nnenna Freelon: The Sistering

Read "The Sistering" reviewed by Jacob Sylvester

by Jacob Sylvester
May 24, 2026

The collaborative album created by jazz vocalists Kate McGarry, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, Lois Deloatch, and Nnenna Freelon, titled The Sistering, is a powerful musical journey that explores the bonds of friendship and heritage. Released in early 2026, the project uses the metaphor of “sistering"--a building technique where two boards are joined to make a structure stronger--to show how these four women support one another. The album begins with the “River Song," which introduces the idea of life as a flowing ...

Album Review

Don Braden: Earth Wind and Wonder, Vol. 2

Read "Earth Wind and Wonder, Vol. 2" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 20, 2023

As on the first recording of this two-volume series, acclaimed tenor saxophonist Don Braden pays tribute to a couple of his coming-of-age idols, singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder and the genre-defying group Earth, Wind and Fire. Braden has chosen four of Wonder's compositions and three associated with EW&F to accompany a pair of his splendid original themes. Braden plays tenor saxophone most of the way, flute and alto flute, respectively on Wonder's “Bird of Beauty" and “Creepin.'" Needless to ...

Album Review

Sheryl Bailey: Homage

by Jim Josselyn
May 15, 2023

Homage, Sheryl Bailey's 12th outing as a leader, is a welcome and well deserved musical love letter to the late, great Pat Martino. The opening track, with one of the great song titles in instrumental music history, “The Velvet Hammer," was written for Martino, and the decision to have keyboardist Miki Hayama play the Fender Rhodes throughout harkens back to one of Martino's masterpieces with Gil Goldstein, We'll Be Together Again (Muse, 1976). But make no mistake, Bailey ...

Event

From Tokyo To Times Square: New Concert Series Showcases Japan’s Top Female Jazz Pianists

Source: Decibel
September 17, 2024

Decibel, a leading nonprofit arts presenter, proudly announces an exciting new concert series that spotlights the talents of some of Japan's finest female jazz pianists. Titled From Tokyo to Times Square, the series will bring together an exceptional lineup of all-female pianists, including Kyoko Oyobe, Yayoi Ikawa, Miho Nobuzane, Miki Hayama, Eri Yamamoto, Martha Kato, and Rina Yamazaki. A Cultural and Musical Exchange Set to launch in November, From Tokyo to Times Square will run for seven months, offering New ...
read more

Event

Love Letter From Japan: Keys To The East comes To Klavierhaus In June

Source: Decibel
June 6, 2023

Jazz enthusiasts will be treated to a month-long series of Japanese Jazz Piano entitled, “Love Letter From Japan,” at Klavierhaus, New York City's premier fine piano showroom at 790 11th Avenue at 54th Street, New York, NY 10019. Produced by Jim Luce and Charles Carlini, the series features the very finest Japanese pianists in New York City on Wednesdays in June. The performers include Miki Hayama on June 7, Yayoi Ikawa on June 14, Toru Dodo with special guest Alicia ...
read more

"Crispy articulate" —-New York Times "Star Rise in New York Jazz Scene"—-Jazz Gallery “Miki Hayama, this young lady, born in Kyoto, Japan, swings as if she's Harlem grown. Colorful and creative, her style is both aggressive and sensitive....” —-Dr. Victor Lewis "Miki Hayama is an amazing young pianist with great chops, a great harmonic concept and a great imagination ! " piano master Kenny Barron