The Checkout: Chihiro Yamanaka October 18, 2012

Chihiro Yamanaka, Universal Classics & Jazz recording artist and Berklee alumna, is one of the most exciting jazz pianists and composers of her generation, and the leader of the Chihiro Yamanaka Trio.
 
2012 has been a milestone year for Chihiro, a year that delivered her trio’s first appearance in the Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, a concert that was featured on National Public Radio’s "JazzSet" with Dee Dee Bridgewater.  Chihiro's recent U.S. concerts have included New York’s Iridium Jazz Club, Dizzy's at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Regattabar in Boston, and she was featured in a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall.



Chihiro’s music pivots between her strikingly original compositions and her unique arrangements of standards, in which she accomplishes the impressive feat of introducing the element of surprise into some of the most famous songs in the standard jazz repertoire.  Chihiro is also an accomplished classical pianist, whose recent concerts have included a performance of Gershwin's “Rhapsody In Blue” with the Tokyo Symphony.