[Title] Akemi Yamada Dreamy Jazz Quartet Sizzling Summer Live
[Artist] Akemi Yamada Quartet
[Members]
– Akemi Yamada (vocal, composition、arrangement)
– Helio Alves (piano)
– Michael O’Brien (bass)
– Tiago Michellin (drums)
[Date] Wednesday, July 10, 2019
[Show] 8:00pm / 10:00pm (2 sets)
[Venue] Jazz at Kitano
[Address] 66 Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 (at E 38th Street)
[Phone] 212-885-7119
[Cover] $18 + Minimum $20 (Food /Beverage)
[Bio]
Akemi Yamada (stage name “akemi”) is a native of Tokyo, Japan, Being raised in a musical family enjoying classical music, Hawaian music, American/Japanese pop and rock, she began studying classical piano since 4 years old. She initiated her solo singing career in jazz/soul/house music with DJs in nightclubs in Tokyo at college and post college era. After traveling all over the world, her focus on music has transited to jazz, inspired by its beauty of harmony, improvisation, and magical aspect of live music. Akemi relocated in 2003 to New York to study Jazz vocal performance at City College of New York, where she studied with Sheila Jordan, Janet Steele, John Patitucci, Mike Holober, Ray Santos, Scott Reeves, and Ray Gallon.
While at jazz college, living in Harlem, she began jamming with established musicians in the scene and had developed her performance skills. Akemi released her first self-produced album “With A Song In My Heart” in 2007, recording with Chuck Stevens (guitar), Tal Ronen(bass), and Quincy Davis(drums) and showed her outstanding improvisational skills. Akemi kept evolving her own approach to jazz singing, eventually named “Akemi’s Dreamy Jazz”. Akemi sings unique sets of jazz music that consist of jazz standards, her own arrangements of jazz/bossa nova tunes, her own jazz compositions, and own arranged Japanese music, based on traditional style of jazz singing adding her own musical vocabulary influenced by Brazilian music, contemporary jazz, classical music, gospel, and Japanese traditional music. Akemi released her 2nd self-produced album “Ta Bi Ji (My Journey)”in 2015, a mini album to introduce “Dreamy Jazz”, her taste of jazz music including her own compositions.
Akemi has been actively performing with her own group in New York.
[Websites]
– Akemi Yamada Website: http://www.akemiyamada.com
– Jazz at Kitano: http://www.kitano.com/Jazz-Schedule
