Jihee Heo

Jihee Heo from South Korea, Jihee Heo is a New York-based jazz pianist and composer.

Heo has performed at acclaimed festivals and venues such as Smalls, Mezzrow, Zinc, Django, The Washington D.C. Jazz Festival, Leverkusen Jazz Festival, The International African Arts Festival, The Jersey Shore Festival, Bergen Pac, Harlem Stage, and Jacques Pelzer in Belgium among others.

Heo’s Nonet album “Passion” was released in 2015, offering a dynamic platform for her to fully express her artistic voice in a large ensemble format featuring soaring compositions and bold arrangements, laced with experimental music. “Passion” has been reviewed to critical acclaim by The New York City Jazz Record, MM Jazz Korea, and Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum.

On November 20th, 2020, Heo released her first trio album “Are You Ready?” with drummer Rodney Green, and bass player Marty Kenney through OA2 Records. it has been featured in many magazines such as Downbeat Magazine, All About Jazz, France Musique, MM Jazz Korea, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s monthly jazz album roundup, and New York City Jazz Record, etc.

On September 21st, 2023, Heo recorded her 2nd trio album at the historical jazz place “Rudy Van Gelder Studio” with the top jazz players Joe Farnsworth on Drums, Alexander Claffy on Bass, and Vincent Herring on Saxophone, and expected to release it in 2024.

Heo holds a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor's degree from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Mose Allison, Lisa Rich, Harry Skoler & Jihee Heo

by Joe Dimino
July 28, 2024

We kick off the 864th Episode of Neon Jazz with new music from a Kansas City treasure, E.E Pointer with the song “Uprights" off his 2024 album Worm. From there, we go old school Kansas City with the great Andy Kirk. The rest of the show focuses on a host of veteran musicians with new work out like Rosemary Load, Jihee Heo, Lisa Rich, Gabriel Evan and Harry Skoler. In between, we hear from legends Mose Allison, Count Basie, Joe ...

Album Review

Jihee Heo: Flow

by Paul Rauch
July 10, 2024

South Korean pianist Jihee Heo has been in New York City since 2009. She arrived to work on her Masters after studies in Amsterdam and has become a fixture on the Gotham club scene, often appearing with a trio or quartet sharing the bandstand with some of the city's finest players. Her new trio plus one effort, Flow (OA2, 2024), is in a way, a documentation of those club performances. Recorded by Maureen Sickler at Rudy Van Gelder's famed studio ...

Album Review

Ilya Dynov: Bridges

Read "Bridges" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
July 17, 2023

Russian-born composer and drummer Ilya Dynov, a New York-based internationally recognized jazz musician, presents his debut recording on Bridges, a nine-piece repertoire of all original material capturing a neo-bop style of blistering up-tempo jazz with an adventurous slant. After immigrating to Belgium and obtaining his citizenship, where he pursued an advanced musical education, Dynov moved to New York City in 2018, quickly becoming emersed in the city's vibrant jazz scene. For this first album, the drummer assembles an ...

Album Review

Ilya Dynov: Bridges

Read "Bridges" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
May 17, 2023

Is there a distinctive NewYork post-bop sound? If there is, does it owe its existence to some common ancestry? To the revolving cast of players who have populated a number of clubs and bands on a rotating basis since the 1990s? To licks, formulaic harmonies, or just a kind of jazz version of the median voter idea to be a little different, but not enough to scare the audience off? To do justice to the question requires on-the-ground experience, and ...

Album Review

Jihee Heo: Are You Ready?

Read "Are You Ready?" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
December 13, 2020

Since arriving in New York from Incheon, South Korea, via studies in Amsterdam, pianist/composer Jihee Heo has made a name for herself through a broad spectrum on the jazz scene in Gotham. Heo's debut album, Passion (Heonah Music, 2015), featured strong compositions and arrangements for large ensemble, with experimental elements sprinkled in the mix. With her new release, Are You Ready? , she breaks down her artistic voice to the piano trio, employing dynamic drummer Rodney Green, and bassist Marty ...

“Pianist Jihee Heo has a beautiful legato touch that builds on sturdy lyricism and lustrous harmonies but her work also is filled with delicate, detailed figures”-Downbeat

“Fluid single note runs join colorful chordal voicings, as Heo establishes where this unit fits into the great tradition of the jazz trio”- All About Jazz

Moving the art of the piano trio forward, Heo has a great touch and feel for the keys and knows just how to put it all together in a nonstop show of effervescence that never loses its fizz. -Midwest Record