Home » Jazz Musicians » Eri Yamamoto

Eri Yamamoto

Since moving to the United States in 1995, Eri Yamamoto has established herself as one of jazz's most original and compelling pianists and composers. Jazz legend Herbie Hancock has said, “My hat’s off to her... already she’s found her own voice.”

During the past twenty-seven years, Eri has been sharing her uniquely lyrical and evocative music with listeners in New York City, throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Africa, Jamaica, and Australia; with appearances in concerts, clubs, and major festivals.

A Woman With A Purple Wig is Eri’s new release, and her fourteenth as a leader. This powerful music came out of her experiences as an Asian woman living in New York City during the pandemic. She felt compelled to write lyrics and sing for the first time. The New Yorker writes: “Purposeful songs….address racial and sexual discrimination, yet also step back to celebrate simple joys. Colors are Beautiful is as affirming as the title track is critical.” Filmmaker Aleksandra Szczepanowska was moved to create music videos of both songs. "A Woman With a Purple Wig," recently won the prize for best music video at the prestigious Big Apple Film Festival, Spring 2023.

Downbeat magazine gave four stars to Eri’s previous release, Firefly, saying: “Her CD reaffirms Yamamoto’s standing as a contemporary pianist of the highest order. Her virtuosity never gets in the way of playing it straight from the heart.”

Eri has also been dedicated to the art of solo piano, moving audiences with her renditions of her own compositions and her spontaneous improvisations. Her most recent release, Yellow Flower, covers a wide range of images and experiences.  It is her second solo piano album, following her 2017 Live at Benicassim.  

Eri was born in Osaka, Japan. She began playing classical piano at age three, and started composing at eight. In 1995, she visited New York for the first time, and was so inspired by a performance by pianist Tommy Flanagan that she decided to move to New York to study jazz. She entered the New School University's prestigious jazz program, where she studied with Reggie Workman, Junior Mance, and LeeAnn Ledgerwood.

While in school, Eri started playing at the Avenue B Social Club in the East Village; and in 1998 her trio began a twenty-year engagement at the historic Arthur’s Tavern in Greenwich Village.

Eri has also been collaborating with such creative and celebrated musicians as William Parker, Daniel Carter, Hamid Drake, Federico Ughi, Yves Leveille and Paul McCandless. Eri has appeared on several William Parker recordings, and has performed in the U.S. and throughout the world with his groups.

Read more

Tags

2
Radio & Podcasts

Eri Yamamoto, Janel Leppin and More

Read "Eri Yamamoto, Janel Leppin and More" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This show features several active female jazz musicians such as Eri Yamamoto, Janel Leppin, and Claudia Acuna. It also includes Michael Sarian, Tyshawn Sorey, and Jesse Davis. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor “Long Tall Sunshine" from Long Tall Sunshine (Not Two) 00:57 The Sandole Brothers “Wings Over Persia" from The Sandole Brothers & Guests ...

11
Album Review

Eri Yamamoto Trio: A Woman With A Purple Wig

Read "A Woman With A Purple Wig" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Eri Yamamoto was born and raised in Japan. but she has been a resident of New York City for over twenty years. She was there in March 2020 when COVID-19 shut down the world and then-President Trump began to call the disease a “Chinese flu." One day, while waiting to start an outdoor concert, she was confronted by a stranger who knocked off her hat, stepped on the electric keyboard she was carrying and called her one of the ...

7
Album Review

Steve Hirsh: Sparks

Read "Sparks" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Listeners are inclined to classify music into categories. There's trad jazz, bebop, hard bop, post bop, avant-garde, free jazz, third stream, free improvisation, fusion, and the list goes on and on. Needless to say, pigeonholes are for the birds. One might agree after listening to Sparks by Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, and Steve Hirsh. The quartet characterizes this two disc set of feel good (actually, extra feel good) music as “spontaneous folk music." This in not ...

Album Review

Eri Yamamoto, Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite

Read "Goshu Ondo Suite" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


La pianista e compositrice Eri Yamamoto, quarantotto anni all'epoca dell'incisione in oggetto (novembre 2018), equamente divisi fra il nativo Giappone (Osaka) e l'adottiva New York, persegue in questo ambizioso lavoro un'ideale compenetrazione fra universo jazzistico, classico e popolare. Non si tratta di un'operazione particolarmente nuova (in più di un frangente il tono ricorda per esempio lo storico It's Time di Max Roach, anno di grazia 1962), ma ciò che conta sono sempre i risultati, che nello specifico sono senz'altro apprezzabili. ...

27
Album Review

William Parker: Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World

Read "Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


If multi-instrumentalist/composer William Parker's ten-CD Migration Of Silence Into And Out Of The Tone World suggests a cohesive, high concept plan, it is something more. The beautifully packaged clamshell box set is comprised of mutually exclusive projects—one dating back ten years—with some common themes. There is an overall dedication of the music to “all people of the world who are searching for freedom...." Pandemic downtime resulted in Parker's accumulating enough material for many of these albums. Viewed as a whole, ...

5
Album Review

William Parker: Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World

Read "Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala


L'attività musicale di William Parker è stata copiosamente documentata da circa centocinquanta dischi, che spaziano in un caleidocopio di gruppi fondati dallo stesso contrabbassista, formazioni cooperative, omaggi, collaborazioni. Ma nessun singolo lavoro, fino a questo momento, aveva focalizzato l'attenzione su un ventaglio di ispirazioni così ampio e completo come si fa ora nei dieci CD del cofanetto The Music of William Parker—Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World. In questo lavoro monumentale, che viene ...

3
Radio & Podcasts

New Music from Gil, Vandermark, and Yamamoto

Read "New Music from Gil, Vandermark, and Yamamoto" reviewed by Bob Osborne


This show brings together an eclectic mix of releases from 2019.The featured album is from exciting Spanish guitarist Arnua Gil whose debut bridges the divide between rock and jazz with ease.There is also music from Ken Vandermark's first large ensemble recording in more than four years. The band is called Entr'acte and is a veritable “who's who" of the most interesting and important musicians currently working in the field of experimental music.Eri Yamamoto's new ...

Read more articles
140

Music Industry

Eri Yamamoto Finds the Keys to the City

Eri Yamamoto Finds the Keys to the City

Source: Improvised Communications

Manhattan's landscape can change in a flash, yet even near the busiest thoroughfares, a half-forgotten pocket exists where time stands still and only the escalating beer prices alert a patron to the approximate decade. Straddle a barstool inside the musty, West Village cocoon that is Arthur's Tavern and marvel. Balloons dangle from the ceiling, slowly deflating, their candy-shop hues faded with the years. The tobacco-brown wall paneling is dotted with ratty decorations that celebrate every occasion: Cupid silhouettes for Valentine's ...

149

Recording

Eri Yamamoto Trio's New CD, "Redwoods," Now Available on AUM Fidelity

Eri Yamamoto Trio's New CD, "Redwoods," Now Available on AUM Fidelity

Source: Improvised Communications

AUM Fidelity is proud to announce the September 9th release of pianist/composer Eri Yamamoto's latest recording, Redwoods (AUM049), her second on the label this year and fifth at the helm of her longstanding New York- based trio. The group, which currently features bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Ikuo Takeuchi, has toured the U.K., Japan and Spain, but is perhaps best known as a fixture on New York's jazz scene thanks to its regular performances at Arthur's Tavern since 2000.

“Right ...

115

Recording

Eri Yamamoto's Duologue Released Today on AUM Fidelity

Eri Yamamoto's Duologue Released Today on AUM Fidelity

Source: Improvised Communications

Let's agree that pianist Eri Yamamoto's days of being described as a talent deserving wider recognition are now over. With Duologue, she now takes her rightful place as a headliner and leader. --Mark Corroto, AllAboutJazz.com

On June 24th, AUM Fidelity will release pianist/composer Eri Yamamoto's, Duologue (AUM048), her new album of duets with fellow New York scene mainstays, Daniel Carter (alto and tenor saxophones), Hamid Drake (frame drum), William Parker (bass) and Federico Ughi (drums). For this special ...

96

Event

Eri Yamamoto Trio November 6 at BAMCafe

Eri Yamamoto Trio November 6 at BAMCafe

Source: All About Jazz

Eri Yamamoto Trio live at BAMcafe

Tuesday November 6th Doors Open at 7:00 p.m. Show begins 8:00 p.m.

Location: BAMcafe, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Closest Subway: Atlantic Avenue/Pacific St. stop of B, D, N, R, 2, 3, 4, 5, and Q

Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door

Originally from Osaka, Japan, Eri Yamamoto moved to NYC in 1995 to pursue a career in jazz. Since then, she has established herself as ...

“My hat’s off to her. She’s found her own voice.” -Herbie Hancock, pianist "4-Stars. Firefly reaffirms Yamamoto's standing as a contemporary pianist of the highest order. While [she] has a deft sense of harmony and note selection, not to mention sheer chops, her virtuosity never gets in the way of playing it straight from the heart. -Daniel A. Brown, DownBeat "Yamamoto’s insistent rhythmic savvy [is] allied to a deep soulfulness. Bassist David Ambrosio once again demonstrates his keen melodic sensibility and propensity for surefooted commentary, while drummer Ikuo Takeuchi combines invention and drive into one elegant package." -John Sharpe, All About Jazz "[Her] trio has been together almost a decade and has levels of telepathy that are enviable

Read more

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Sparks

Mahakala Music
2022

buy

A Woman With A Purple...

Mahakala Music
2022

buy

Migration of Silence...

Centering Records / AUM Fidelity
2021

buy

Goshu Ondo Suite

AUM Fidelity
2019

buy

Life

AUM Fidelity
2016

buy

The Next Page

AUM Fidelity
2012

buy

In The Garden

From: Sparks
By Eri Yamamoto

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.