Chihiro Yamanaka
Today we’re listening to Chihiro Yamanaka, a Japanese pianist and composer from Kiryū. Thanks to Jazz of Japan for surfacing her music. She grew up playing piano and gravitated toward jazz after hearing artists like Oscar Peterson and Gary Burton.1 She studied at the Berklee College of Music and began putting out records primarily on Verve in the mid-2000s. Rosa from 2020 opens with “My Favorite Things” and has fascinating jazz arrangements of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 and Symphony No. 5. We’re also playing Best 2005-2025, which just came out in September. It’s 24 recordings of Yamanaka’s from the past two decades, including her own pieces and contemporary jazz renditions of “Maple Leaf Rag,” “Yesterday,” “Fly Me To The Moon,” and more.
Rosa - Chihiro Yamanaka (44m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
Best 2005-2025 - Chihiro Yamanaka (118m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
Have a great Thursday.
I am duly impressed with a performer or artist who tricks me into hearing something new in Beethoven's 5th. Yamanaka makes me hear the music itself, takes it out of cliche.