Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Yuko Okamoto was born in Miyagi, Japan on May 21, 1984 and started playing piano at age 5 but changed to Electone, a synth organ, at age 7. When she was in junior high school she won the Miyagi Prefecture first prize of the Yamaha Junior Electone Festival. She was chosen as a semifinalist of the Interntational Yamaha Electone Competition at Akasaka Britz in 2002 and Shibuya AX in 2004. In 2003 she won first prize of ‘Yamaha Electone Competition Expert Division and she earned a high evaluation on her performance and charm.
At age 18, she started studying jazz piano and composition under Kiminori Atsuta and Masa Matsuda. She also played in various jazz clubs, restaurants and bars with great bands and popular artists. In 2006 she entered Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied composition, arranging, and performance under George Russell Jr, Walter Besely, John Arcaro, and Bill Eliott among others.
In 2008 she played her original music at Carnegie Hall in NewYork City and performed at Boston City Hall with different bands. She co-stared with One Voice Children’s Choir lead by Masa Fukuda. She has composed for film music and short image video music,
Pianist Yoko Okamoto Now she moved to New York City and is fully engaged as a composer, arranger, and performer.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ferenc Nemeth was born on May 20, 1976 in Keszthely, Hungary and at 14 left home to study classical percussion at the Richter János Conservatory in Győr, Hungary. Following this he attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and then received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He later enrolled in the graduate program at the New England Conservatory. In 2001 he became the first Hungarian to be accepted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, studying there until 2003.
He has played with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Christian McBride, John Patitucci, Terence Blanchard, John Abercrombie, Joshua Redman, Dave Samuels, Mark Turner, Ron McClure, Chris Cheek, Aaron Goldberg, Eli Degibri, and Illayaraja.
He is a founding member of Gilfema with Lionel Loueke and Massimo Biolcati. Since the group’s debut album as a leader he has released six more albums, and his sophomore release Night Songs being nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Jazz Album of the Year.
Based in New York City, drummer and composer Ferenc Nemeth, who has also recorded as a sideman, continues to perform, record and compose.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nikki Anne Iles was born Nikki Anne Burnham on May 16, 1963 in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. Her primary school musical education began when she learned to play the harmonica and the clarinet. At eleven she won a junior exhibition at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied clarinet and piano from 1974 to 1981. She became a member of the Bedfordshire Youth Jazz Orchestra before going to the Leeds College of Music from 1981 to 1984.
Settling in Yorkshire after graduating from the Leeds College of Music, she married trumpeter Richard Iles and took his name. She joined his band Emanon, with which she played some of her compositions. Iles began playing with several London-based bands, led by Steve Argüelles, Mick Hutton and Stan Sulzmann.
Iles won the 1996 John Dankworth Special Award at the BT Jazz Festival, but following a serious car crash after a gig, she opted to settle in London, England. She went on to be a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, and taught at the University of York, Leeds College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music, and in Bulgaria, Holland, France, and Finland.
Composer, pianist and educator Nikki Iles, who was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) at the 2022 New Year Honours for services to music, continues her career as a composer, educator and musician.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles William Porter was born May 10, 1978 in Boynton Beach, Florida. He studied trumpet at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Paris Conservatory. His mentors include Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, Raymond Mase, Guy Touvron, and Laurie Frink.
Porter started in the New York jazz scene in the 1990s while studying classical music under Wynton Marsalis at the Juilliard School. He became a long-standing member of the Absolute Ensemble, and is a frequent member of the Charlie Porter Quintet, The Alan Jones Sextet and the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra.
As a bandleader, he has toured as both a jazz and classical musician, and released his debut self-titled album, Charlie Porter, and a sophomore project Immigration Nation. As a sideman he has recorded some two dozen albums with Philip Glass, Absolute Ensemble, Paquito D’Rivera, Tristan Murail, Billy Martin, Anthony Coleman, Russ Spiegel, Majid Khaliq, Chuck Israels, Alan Jones, and Derek Hines.
As an educator he is currently based in Portland, Oregon and presently holds the position of adjunct professor of jazz trumpet at Portland State University. Trumpeter, composer and music educator Charlie Porter, who has won several trumpet competitions and awarded a Grammy for his collaboration on the Joyce DiDonato album Songplay, continues to perform, record and teach.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Meeco was born on May 2, 1976 in Berlin, Germany. As a young child he was heavily influenced by his father who played classical piano and his poet/artist mother, thereby making it completely natural to follow their footsteps. Beginning piano lessons at six years old, and after several years of studying classical music, he sought other musical outlets. After a friend introduced vintage Ella Fitzgerald, Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner records, he became enamored with Black American music.
Mentored by his close friend, the late New York pianist/singer Bob Lenox, he realized that the only important thing in music was creating the right feeling. He would go on to work with German producer Marco Meister, founding member of the group Terranova, Meeco gained invaluable studio experience producing his own music.
Over the course of his career Meeco has recorded with Benny Golson, Gregory Porter, Ron Carter, John Scofield, Hubert Laws, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, Kirk Whalum, Richard Bona, Casey Benjamin, Mary Stallings, Freddy Cole, Kevin Mahogany, Bennie Maupin, James Moody, Eddie Henderson, Shedrick Mitchell, David “Fathead” Newman, Eric Reed, Vincent Herring, Victor Lewis, Stefon Harris, Lionel Loueke, Cedar Walton, Charlie Mariano, David Friedman, just to name a few.
Not limiting himself to jazz, Meeco has also produced hip hop and soul legends Talib Kweli, Masta Ace, Smif n Wessun, Lil Fame of M.O.P., Yahzarah, Jean Baylor, DJ Stylewarz, along with Latin and pop genres Joe Bataan, Jane Birkin, Jaques Morelenbaum and Romero Lubambo.
Pianist, composer, producer, deejay and photographer Meeco, who has released seven albums to date, remains based between Berlin and Paris, France as he continues to expand his musical horizons.
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