Results for "female pianist"

Makiko Hirabayashi

Born: September 17, 1966

Makiko Hirabayashi is a Japanese pianist and composer, based in Copenhagen since 1990. She has received wide critical acclaim as a personal voice on the international jazz scene since the release of her debut album as a leader in 2006. Throughout the last two dacades, she has toured extensively through Europe and Asia with her trio featuring Marilyn Mazur and Klavs Hovman, her quartet Weavers and with diverse projects led by Europe’s top notch musicians.

Makiko’s latest and tenth studio album “Gifts” (enja 2025) is recorded with her qaurtet Weavers, following their first album which won Jazz Album Of The Year at Danish Music Awards 2021. Triggered by a composition commission by the Händel Festival in Halle, the making of this album served as a deeply personal journey for the Tokyo born pianist. Memories of Händel’s music she heard in her youth have inspired her to write nine tracks that sound both new and reflective – symbolizing the universal quality of Händel’s music and its transformative power. The music on this album, featuring some of the leading figures on the Scandinavian music scene – Fredrik Lundin (sax), Thommy Andersson (b) and Bjørn Heebøll (d) – flows effortlessly through intricate written passages and improvisation, while keeping the collective, creative force at its core.

Isabel Rato

Born: December 18, 1981

Composer, arranger, pianist and producer, with a good track record working alongside leading names inn Portuguese music, Isabel Rato is already an outstanding name in the Jazz scene in Portugal. With immediate recognition for her debut album, “Para Além da Curva da Estrada” edited in 2016 by the label Sintoma Records, the composer has now her second album "Histórias do Céu e da Terra", released in 2019 by the label Nischo Records. Recently, "Histórias do Céu e da Terra" was considered by the well-known portuguese magazine jazz.pt, as one of the best Portuguese albums of 2019. Her quintet comprises João David Almeida on vocals, João Capinha on saxophones (soprano, alto and tenor), João Custódio on the double bass and Alexandre Alves on the drums