日本語
KYOKO OYOBE
pianist, composer, arranger
The Japanese-born pianist, composer Kyoko Oyobe has been a mainstay in the New York Jazz scene since 2005. She started playing piano at the age of four. At the age of 17 her mother started inviting famous Japanese musicians, such as Terumasa Hino to give concerts at their home. At the age of 19 she was greatly inspired by a live performance of Kensaku Tanikawa and began playing jazz piano. In 2000 she started traveling to New York. She studied under Frank Hewitt, Jean Michel Pilc and Gil Coigns. In October 2005 she moved to New York and it didn’t take long for Kyoko to make her mark. She started performing with her own group at New York CIty’s renowned jazz clubs, such as Smalls Jazz Club and Fat Cat. In December 2008 she made a live recording of her original music with her trio, Michael O’Brien (bass) and Clifford Barbaro (drums) at Smalls Jazz Club that gave birth to the album, “Cookin’ at Smalls” released in 2009. In 2014 she made a recording with her Quartet, Steve Wilson (saxophone), Matt Wilson (drums) and Michael O’Brien (bass). The new album “ Happy Silence” was released in 2015.
She has been performing and composing internationally with such notables as Chris Parker (Kyoko has been a piano player of The Chris Parker Trio and two records were released as The Chris Parker Trio), Tom Harrell, Victor Lewis, Steve Wilson, Matt Wilson, Dave King, Chris Speed, Greg Osby, Gene Jackson, Ben Monder, Randy Brecker, Bill McHenry, Francois Moutin, Clifford Barbaro, Joe Magnarelli, Sophie Alour, Sylvia Cuenca, Troy Roberts, to name a few. She has headlined at many well known jazz venues in New York, such as the Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Jazz at Kitano, Garage, 55 Bar, Fat Cat, etc. In Japan, she is also known for touring regularly with her Trio and Quartet at NHK concert hall (Japan’s National public broadcasting organization), Body and Soul (Tokyo), Left Alone (Kobe), Speak Low (Hiroshima), New Combo (Fukuoka), Renaiss Hall (Okayama) and many others. In October 2011, Kyoko had a special three-week French tour in which she was invited to share her music with French female artists throughout many Jazz clubs in Paris. In 2018, her trio with Michael O’Brien and Andrew Atkinson was invited to perform at the Residence of the Ambassador of Japan in Washington D.C. In 2019, she had a great success performing with her trio feat Dave King in Minneapolis and with her Quartet with Jon Irabagon, Michael O’Brien and Andrew Atkinson at the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison. Her prowess as a superlative jazz pianist is recognized internationally by musical peers who regularly invite her to accompany them.
Kyoko Oyobe is a gifted artist who explores different modes of expression conveyed within a subtext of intimacy found in duets with trumpeter like Tom Harrell and Joe Magnerelli or through original compositions inspiring and reflected in novels by the renowned Japanese novelist, Rui Kodemari. She travels through music instilling an essence and distinct color that borrow from Be-Bop to Brazilian and Free Jazz to French-Impressionist, early 20th century voicings, yet sealing her own inimitable style.
DISCOGRAPHY
Kyoko Oyobe Quartet “Happy Silence” (2015)
Kyoko Oyobe Trio “The Other Side (2012)
Kyoko Oyobe Trio “Cookin’ at Smalls” (2009)
The Chris Parker Trio “The Chris Parker Trio” (2013)
Chris Parker Trio feat Randy Brecker “Blue Print” (2016)
Michael O'Brien Trio, "Tunes I like to play" (2013)
Kyoko Ogawa, "Moon Sings to the Sea" (2012)
Manuela Le Chler “Sketches From Here” (2014)
Oyobe, Montier-Dauriac, Keledjian Trio “Bigo 13th” (2011)
It has been her pleasure to perform at such as great venues: Smalls Jazz club, Fat Cat, Garage, Arturo’s, 55 Bar, Minton, Blue Note New York, The Kitano, Body & Soul, Left Alone, Moldy Fig, Sofia’s, Nuyorican Poet Cafe, Roth’s, Marx, Duane Park, Chez Papa Jazz , La Bellevilloise, Cafe Paris, Cafe Universal, Babel Cafe. It has been her pleasure to perform with such wonderful musicians as: Tom Harrell, Chris Parker, Victor Lewis, Joe Magnarelli, Steve Wilson, Matt Wilson, Bill McHenry, Greg Osby, Gene Jackson, Francois Moutin, Dave King, Chris Speed, Randy Brecker, Ben Monder, Tony Middleton, Ameen Saleem, Alex Norris, Troy Robert, Ned Goold, Saul Rubin, Clifford Barbaro, Michael O’Brien, Billy Kaye, Stacy Dillard, Martin Wind, Rogerio Boccato, Moira Montier-Dauriac, Roy Hargrove, Sharel Cassity, Jade Synstelien, Elisabeth Keledjian, Sophie Alour, Tyler Mitchell, Zaid Nasser, Oyama × Nitta Duo, Tony Jefferson, Tex Allen, Jon Burr, Fukushi Tainaka, Hide Tanaka, Ippei Ichimaru, Enrique Haneine, Joseph Lepore, Ruslan Khain, Iris Ornig , Yoshi Waki , Linda Oh, Ai Murakami, John Roche, Marion Cownig, David Coss, Ari Roland, Phil Stewart, Diallo House, Debbie Kennedy, Alexi David, Yasushi Nakamura, Luca Santaniello, Yoshiro Okazaki, Tal Ronen, Sylvia Cuenca, Steve Wood, Oleg Osenkov, Corcolan Holt, Evan Schwam, Ryo Sasaki, Scot Albertson, Rome Neal, Reid Taylor, Phil Maturano, Mauricio de Souza, Kenji Yoshitake, Chris Benham, Joshua Breakstone, Josh Benko, Kaori Yamada, Tsuyoshi Niwa, Asako Takasaki, Kuriko Tsugawa, Nobuki Takamen, Manuela Le Chler, Tomoko Miki, Kyoko Ogawa, Okaru Lovelace, Jimmy Lovelace, Michelle Zangara, Dwayne Clemons, Joe Strasser, Lucianna Padmore, Jimmy Wormworth, Jimmy Norman, Eyal Vilner, Eddy Khamovich, David Weiss, Craig Wuepper, Craig Holiday Haynes, Clovis Nicolas, Chris Haney, Charles Goold, Brian Woodruff, Kalim Gherbi, Olivier Rivaux, Nicolas Rageau, Gael Horellou, William Ash, Erika Kapin, Jason Ennis, Carlos Raul Abadie, Fabio Morgera, Frederika Krier, G Earl Grice, John Lang, Paul Beaudry, Terese Genecco.
Her musical collaborators and audiences all say that she created her original unique sound in music.
“She is a true original.”
“Kyoko Oyobe, pianist and composer, is adventurous. I met Kyoko four or five years ago and at a friend’s studio. David Shaich, bassist and fellow skier, introduced us. That rainy day could have dampened anyone’s spirits but, instead, playing the first notes with Oyobe-san was like skiing beautiful mountain in perfect weather. Outdoors, the wintertime, the welcoming, supportive conditions and gravity took over. The hours passed quickly. Kyoko’s playing, compositions and ideas were crisp, fresh, bold and gorgeous gambits of which she was not afraid to initiate-harmonically and rhythmically. Kyoko was constantly challenging herself and us to take the plunge down slope and explore with her, her heart open to the light of her true nature. Kyoko is the reason I put my own trio together, with Ameen Sallem or Michael O’Brien, on bass. We finished our second cd recently. To hear her compositions, her interpretations of standards or classical themes, and to hear her play my compositions. This is truly exciting. Listen to Oyobesan.”
“Kyoko has a very sensitive approach to her playing arrangements and compositions, and the way she wants the music to emote. She is one of the new great jazz voices of Japan especially when it comes to giving credit to women in Jazz.”
“Oyobe plays with gentleness and sincerity and her compositions are beautiful, highly lyrical and harmonically satisfying music, which seem to evolve organically and flow freely but have a keen sense of time, dynamics and form.”
“The rhythms and harmonies are totally absorbing.”
“Happy Silence by pianist / composer Kyoko Oyobe takes the listener on a musical journey filled joy, beauty, mystery, discovery and swing. Kyoko’s carefully crafted compositions are autobiographical and brilliantly interpreted with the help of Steve, Matt and Michael, Happy Silence is uniquely personal and satisfying from beginning to end. Kyoko Oyobe is a composer and pianist with a uniquely personal point of view.”
“Kyoko’s music is a happy mixture of the unpredictable playfulness of Thelonius Monk, the unique interpretation of the traditional jazz idiom and recordings or stages. If you are interested in any adventurous music regardless of genres or styles, Kyoko’s music is highly recommended.”