Blue Note Special Christmas Brunch

The members are:
Kayo Hiraki / piano, vocals (from Japan)
Debbie Kennedy / bass (from Australia)
Lucianna Padmore / drums (USA)

Special Guest Annette St. John / vocals
$19.50 (Include music fee, brunch, a cocktail)

For more information, visit www.kayopiano.com

Jazz pianist Hiraki was born in Japan. The daughter of a classical pianist, she started playing the piano when she was three years old and the violin a year later. Soon she was giving concerts and became known as a child prodigy.

At the age of 18, Kayo enrolled In Kunitachi Music College, Japan's equivalent of the Juilliard School in New York. She received a degree as a music educator and after graduation embarked on a career as a composer, arranger and working musician, playing piano, organ and synthesizers.

In 1988, she met Barry Harris in New York, who has great jazz workshops around the world. He was very impressed, as she captivated the local jazz scene. She has studied with Larry Ham, the splendid jazz pianist since then.

In 1998, Kayo recorded I Miss You with her piano trio. She wrote half the songs on the album, which was widely praised by critics in Japan for the gentle touch she brought to Western jazz music.

Recently, legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter said that “Rarely have I heard a musician as gifted as Ms. Hiraki. To hear her play is to experience the joy of her creative ability and the depth of her experience as a talented performer." Kayo performed with her Kayo Hiraki piano trio, including Mr. Ron Carter, at the famous Greenwich Village jazz spot the Blue Note in 2003. Two of the shows were sold out.

In 2004 and 2005, Ms. Hiraki returned to her native Japan for extensive concert tours throughout the country, where she is adored. She also recorded three other albums in those years, the latest one comprised entirely of songs with her lovely vocals.

Kayo has been establishing herself with jazz audiences in New York as house pianist at Arturo's in Greenwich Village, where she plays five nights a week. She has also performed at Cucina della Fontana every Thursday night in the lounge, at Ecco Italia every weekend brunch, at Palette every Friday night, at Pacific World seafood restaurant five days a week, at Shutter's cafe and at JM Gallery. She also plays at many private parties, weddings and other affairs, such as artist's exhibitions.