Yoko Miwa Trio

“Listening to Yoko Miwa play the piano is like listening to the

stars that shine at night twinkle at various decibels as they

frame the celestial bodies in the evening sky with sound

waves of elation and startling beauty.” - Jazzreview.com

“Yoko Miwa demonstrates a full command of the inner-directed, post-Bill Evans piano idiom, which also takes in the work of Keith ]arrett and, to lesser extents, Chick Corea and Steve Kuhn… displays her burgeoning talent as a writer of melodically inviting, impressionistic material, as well as introducing a technically assured soloist with a clean, singing sound and an occasional penchant for the blues in pastels.” - Albert Isaacs

“The pianist has an engaging way of repeating a phrase, drawing the listener in before she lets the melodic flow go free again, telling stories full of concise and beautifully-rendered ideas…. The variety of styles Miwa commands, while maintaining a start-to-finish cohesion of sound on Fadeless Flower, is impressive. A gorgeous and unpretentious set of straightahead jazz.” - All About Jazz

“Her second album as a leader is one of the warmest, most unapologetically lyrical jazz albums of the year… Miwa displays her facility with a variety of styles on this all-original program….what's consistently impressive is her ability to deliver complex and challenging musical ideas in a compelling and yet frequently gentle and inviting way.” - All Music Guide

This is trio jazz worth listening to. There is fiber in its congeniality. Like those talks with Carl Sagan, or more aptly, Leonard Bernstein. True intelligence is never boring. - Tucson Citizen

Fadeless Flower

(Polystar)

Pianist Yoko Miwa displays unpretentious melodies, elegant phrasing, and the lyrical sensibility of a jazz poet on Fadeless Flower, her second trio release. A native of Kobe, Japan, Miwa began playing classical piano at age 4. She first studied jazz under Makoto Ozone’s father before earning a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she later became a faculty member.



Miwa strives to sing through the piano, and for someone who didn’t take up jazz until 1996, she’s a remarkably fluent mainstream player with a graceful touch and a self-assured notion of where each tune is headed.



Along with bassist Greg Loughman and drummer Scott Goulding, Miwa crafts impressionistic sound poems offset by splashes of cool blues. Many of her original instrumentals are Bill Evans-like in their introspection, but Miwa’s passionate playing renders them accessible. From the wistful beauty of the opening track “Sorrowful Moon,” to the stirring gospel touches of the album’s closer “Finding the Sun,” the mood often shifts between melancholia and exultation. The trio also shows a playful side on “Blues in the Cave,” a laid-back shuffle, and “Black Bunny,” an uptempo swing number suggestive of Oscar Peterson. The aptly named title track is a waltz marked by delicate exchanges between the pianist and her two disciplined partners.



Comparisons to fellow Berklee alum Hiromi are probably inevitable. Although both pianists are brilliant from a technical standpoint, they differ greatly in style and tone. Whereas Hiromi’s dazzling blend of jazz and rock often blows like a typhoon, Miwa’s gentle compositions waft like a soft summer breeze.

-Ed Kopp - Jazziz Magazine

The Yoko Miwa Trio - Fadeless Flower (Miwa, piano; Greg Loughman, bass; Scott Goulding, drums) - Polystar P.J.L. MTCJ-3009: (Release date: June 15)

Another outstanding Japanese female jazz piano star is with us, hard on the heels of the phenomenal Hiromi (reviewed twice here last month). This is already the second album as leader for Ms. Miwa, who began her studies with the father of famed jazz pianist Makoto Ozone, and has served as accompanist to vocalist Kevin Mahogany. In 2001 she was a featured performer at the Kennedy Center's “Mary Lou William's Women in Jazz Festival.” All nine tracks here are her originals and each has a song-like sense about them that seem to perfectly fit the album's titled Fadeless Flower - which is also a waltz-tempo tune on the album. She observes, “I’m always trying to sing when I play a solo, I mean sing through my piano phrasing.” Her trio members support her effectively by avoiding overstating their parts - especially the tasteful drummer. Not all the tunes are so lyrical however; some are straight-ahead swingers with some active bluesy left-hand chording. Her clean and singing sound is beautifully transmitted by the high quality recording on this new-to-me Japanese label.

~ John Henry
- Audiophile Audition