Home » Jazz Musicians » Ikuo Takeuchi
Ikuo Takeuchi
Eri Yamamoto Trio: A Woman With A Purple Wig
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Eri Yamamoto was born and raised in Japan. but she has been a resident of New York City for over twenty years. She was there in March 2020 when COVID-19 shut down the world and then-President Trump began to call the disease a “Chinese flu." One day, while waiting to start an outdoor concert, she was confronted by a stranger who knocked off her hat, stepped on the electric keyboard she was carrying and called her one of the ...
Continue ReadingEri Yamamoto, Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite
by Alberto Bazzurro
La pianista e compositrice Eri Yamamoto, quarantotto anni all'epoca dell'incisione in oggetto (novembre 2018), equamente divisi fra il nativo Giappone (Osaka) e l'adottiva New York, persegue in questo ambizioso lavoro un'ideale compenetrazione fra universo jazzistico, classico e popolare. Non si tratta di un'operazione particolarmente nuova (in più di un frangente il tono ricorda per esempio lo storico It's Time di Max Roach, anno di grazia 1962), ma ciò che conta sono sempre i risultati, che nello specifico sono senz'altro apprezzabili. ...
Continue ReadingEri Yamamoto Trio & Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite
by Glenn Astarita
Modern jazz combined with choral vocals has not been in vogue during the genre's varied history. Some notable recordings such as drummer Max Roach's It's Time (Impulse, 1962) and trumpeter Donald Byrd's melding of jazz with spiritual vocals on A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1964) were prolific outings of this ilk. And on Byrd's album, the piece titled “Cristo Redentor" received a fair amount of jazz radio play for decades. But New York-based pianist Eri Yamamoto's new venture, featuring a ...
Continue ReadingEri Yamamoto: Cobalt Blue
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Eri Yamamoto's two previous releases, Three Feel (Jane Street, 2003) and Colors (Jane Street, 2004), displayed her prowess as a pianist, composer and arranger. Her contribution to Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, Cobalt Blue, marks a significant change in her musical landscape. She's managed to step up her game further by adding new dimensions to her already formidable skills. “Melodica Chops is taken at an accelerated waltz tempo, and the use of space and time is strong throughout, ...
Continue ReadingEri Yamamoto: Cobalt Blue
by James Taylor
Cobalt Blue is not your average piano trio record, because Eri Yamamoto is not your average pianist. Nonetheless, throughout the record, we are greeted with familiar phrases in voices that remind us of old friends--Keith Jarrett with DeJohnette on standards, even a little Evans or Gershwin. Lots of McCoy Tyner. Yamamoto's music is equal parts playfully light and adventuresome.Yamamoto is Osaka-born and classically bred, never having played a lick of jazz until her arrival in New York City, ...
Continue ReadingEri Yamamoto: Cobalt Blue
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
When the Bad Plus covered Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit" a few years back, it sounded (a little) like a long-lost track from John Coltrane's rhythm section; thus did the Love Supreme virus erupt in the least likely of contexts. Pianist Eri Yamamoto's Cobalt Blue, a trio performance with bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Ikuo Takeuchi, has more than a touch of the virus, too. The trio sounds a little like the Bad Plus in that respect, ...
Continue Reading
