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Sumi Tonooka

Sumi Tonooka (pronounced To-NO-ka) has been called a “fierce and fascinating composer and pianist” (Jazz Times), “provocative and compelling” (New York Times), and “continually inventive, original, surprising, and a total delight,” (Cuadranos de Jazz, Madrid).

During a career spanning more than 30 years that has taken her from bases in Philadelphia & Boston, to New York & Seattle, Tonooka has been developing a body of work that surprises and delights audiences - quietly piling up accolades from jazz writers and fellow musicians.

In 2013, the American Composers Orchestra and The Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University, in cooperation with EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discover Network, presented Tonooka's first work for symphony ochestra as part of the second Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute (JCOI) Readings.

In her most recent solo recording, NOW, "Tonooka covers a lot of stylistic territory in a perfectly sequenced show, and plays with a rare spirituality and musical sagacity. A superb solo piano outing" (All About Jazz). Her 2009 recording, Initiation (2009 ARC Records, with tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay), garnered an “Honorable Mention” in the 2010 Village Voice Jazz Critic’s Poll. Recording often in trio or quartet with such noted jazz stalwarts as bassist Rufus Reid and drummers Akira Tana and Lewis Nash, Tonooka characteristically blends her own compositions with highly personal readings of jazz standards.

In addition to her symphonic and chamber works, jazz recordings and performances, Tonooka has composed over a dozen film scores, including the Academy Award-nominated Family Gathering by Lise Yasui and Daring To Resist by Martha Lubell, aired on PBS. She is also featured in A Note of Hope, released in 2011, a full-length documentary from Citygate Films on the youngest victiims of HIV/AIDS in Africa. She toured West Africa as part of a sextet featuring her musical compadre of two decades, jazz violinist John Blake, Jr. Their recorded output includes A New Beginning: Live at The Village Gate, Kindred Spirits (as a duo), and the Traveler featuring Boris Koslov on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums. As a member of the Rufus Reid Quintent, Tonooka appears on the CD and DVD The Rufus Reid Quintent: Live at the Kennedy Center (Motema). The group appeared at Dizzy's Club Cocoa Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York in 2007 for the release performance.

Tonooka’s career has been chronicled on several highly regarded jazz books, including Living the Jazz Life by Royal Stokes, ln The Moment by Francis Davis, and Madame Jazz by Leslie Gourse (all on Oxford University Press).

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Album Review

Alchemy Sound Project: Afrika Love

Read "Afrika Love" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


The group Alchemy Sound Project is the result of five accomplished composers and bandleaders pooling their resources. The five are saxophonists Salim Washington and Erica Lindsay, trumpeter Samantha Boshnack, pianist Sumi Tonooka and bassist David Arend. Each one contributes a composition to this, their third release together. The result is a varied set of complex and restless modern jazz, arranged to showcase the playing talents of the group's members. Arend's “The Fountain" is a jangling group collage which ...

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Album Review

Alchemy Sound Project: Afrika Love

Read "Afrika Love" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Confirming the many advantages of a regular working ensemble, the Alchemy Sound Project came together in 2014 to provide an additional venue of exploration for several members of the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute in Los Angeles. Although the group possesses an affinity for fusing classical composition techniques with expansive improvisation, what stands out on Afrika Love, the collective's third release, is its undisguised love of the jazz tradition. With a three-horn core of trumpeter Samantha Boshnack and multi-instrumentalists ...

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Album Review

Sumi Tonooka: NOW: Solo Live at the Howland Cultural Center

Read "NOW: Solo Live at the Howland Cultural Center" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson


There are some jazz players who suffer an unusually large gap between their credentials and their renown. Pianist Sumi Tonooka is a case in point. She studied with Mary Lou Williams, made her recording début with Detroit trumpeter Marcus Belgrave (of Motown/Tribe Records fame), and was part of Philly Joe Jones's band. Two especially strong albums--Long Ago Today (Artists Recording Collective, 2008) and Initiation (Artists Recording Collective, 2010, with saxophonist Erica Lindsay)--exhibited a distinctive Williams-like piano style, with strong original ...

2
Album Review

Sumi Tonooka: Now

Read "Now" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Sumi Tonooka is a resourceful jazz pianist who, along with alto saxophonist Chris Burnett and tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay, started the Artists Recording Collective, offering up Initiation (2010), an excellent quartet outing which Tonooka co-led with Lindsay, and a more intimate Tonooka-led trio effort, Long Ago Today (2008). A former student of piano legend Mary Lou Williams and an alum of drummer Philly Joe Jones' band, the pianist knows how to work in an ensemble. But going it alone is ...

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Album Review

Erica Lindsay / Sumi Tonooka: Initiation

Read "Initiation" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson


Long Ago Today (Artists Recording Collective, 2008), pianist Sumi Tonooka's previous release, generated two immediate reactions. First, it seemed astonishing that so singular, strong and distinctive a player could have been flying beneath the radar for so long. Second, the rhythm section--Tonooka, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Bob Braye--played with an unusual empathy that held the promise of ever-richer future collaborations; sadly, such hopes were dashed when Braye died in 2007, after Long Ago Today was recorded.For both ...

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Album Review

Sumi Tonooka: Long Ago Today

Read "Long Ago Today" reviewed by David Adler


Players as acclaimed as Uri Caine speak highly of their fellow Philadelphian, pianist Sumi Tonooka, who deserves a far wider hearing but works at her own pace. Long Ago Today, her first leader date in 10 years and her fifth since 1990, is accurately titled in the sense that it was recorded back in 2004. Sadly, drummer Bob Braye died in the interim. But thanks in no small part to him, the music from this trio session pulses with life. ...

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Album Review

Sumi Tonooka Trio: Long Ago Today

Read "Long Ago Today" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


The name of Sumi Tonooka conjures two images. First, the name of a fine jazz pianist whose album, Taking Time (Candid, 1990), was retrieved from a cutout bin circa the year of its release. Secondly, around the same time, seeing the pianist perform, chairing a rhythm section that supported the formidable duo of trombonists Steve Turre and Fred Wesley. Talk about cooking sets--this was a ringside table just under the feet of this powerful group, where it was possible to ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz Bridge Presents Sumi Tonooka at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Media (PA) on March 16

Jazz Bridge Presents Sumi Tonooka at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Media (PA) on March 16

Source: Suzanne Cloud

For the last piano concert of this season, Jazz Bridge presents award-winning jazz artist Sumi Tonooka in a rare piano concert in the Philadelphia area at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 145 W. Rose Tree Road in Media, PA, on March 16, 2011. With her will be bassist Mike Boone and drummer Alan Nelson. Initiation, her most recent recording on the ARC label, earned a “Best of 2010" mention in the Village Voice and her trio's CD Long Ago Today was ...

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Recording

Jazz Pianist Sumi Tonooka's Long Ago Today Released on Artists Recording Collective Records

Jazz Pianist Sumi Tonooka's Long Ago Today Released on Artists Recording Collective Records

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

Featuring Tonooka with Bassist Rufus Reid and the late drummer Bob Braye “Fierce, fascinating composer and pianist . . . a thoughtful, fresh voice . . . delicate and articulate . . . driving and dramatic." -- Leslie Gourse, Jazz Times “Tonooka . . . opened her set with a crackling interpretation of Thelonious Monk's “Eronel." The dispatch with which Tonooka negotiated Monk's precipitous lines left no doubt that she is among the best of today's jazz pianists. . . ...

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Performance / Tour

Sumi Tonooka with Rufus Reid Quintet at the Lincoln Center June 18

Sumi Tonooka with Rufus Reid Quintet at the Lincoln Center June 18

Source: All About Jazz

ASR Records Recording Artist Sumi Tonooka will perform two sets for a Special Monday Presentation at the Lincoln Center on June 18th as pianist with the Rufus Reid Quintet. The sets start at 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm respectively.

Noted jazz critic Francis Davis, one of the first to recognize her as an extraordinary talent, placed Sumi Tonooka “among the best of today's young pianists." During a career now spanning more than 20 years, Sumi Tonooka has been surprising and ...

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Performance / Tour

Free program at Bard features 'ASR Records Artists the Erica Lindsay/Sumi Tonooka Quartet

Free program at Bard features 'ASR Records Artists the Erica Lindsay/Sumi Tonooka Quartet

Source: All About Jazz

BARD MUSIC PROGRAM PRESENTS AN EVENING OF CLASSICAL MUSIC AND JAZZ ON OCTOBER 19 Free program at Bard features 'ASR Records Artists the Erica Lindsay/Sumi Tonooka Quartet ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.--The Bard Music Program presents a classical/jazz concert on Wednesday, October 19. Free and open to the public, the program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. The classical section of the program features the Bard Orchestra, directed by ...

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Performance / Tour

Free program at Bard features 'ASR Records Artists the Erica Lindsay/Sumi Tonooka Quartet

Free program at Bard features 'ASR Records Artists the Erica Lindsay/Sumi Tonooka Quartet

Source: All About Jazz

BARD MUSIC PROGRAM PRESENTS AN EVENING OF CLASSICAL MUSIC AND JAZZ ON OCTOBER 19 Free program at Bard features 'ASR Records Artists the Erica Lindsay/Sumi Tonooka Quartet ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.--The Bard Music Program presents a classical/jazz concert on Wednesday, October 19. Free and open to the public, the program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. The classical section of the program features the Bard Orchestra, directed by ...

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Music Industry

'Asr Records Signs Pianist Sumi Tonooka

'Asr Records Signs Pianist Sumi Tonooka

Source: All About Jazz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 'ASR SIGNS TONOOKA Article by: Victoria Dunfee

Kansas City USA -- 'ASR RECORDS announces the addition of Sumi Tonooka - the established New York based pianist, composer, clinician and producer to our artist roster. Sumi Tonooka has been surprising and delighting audiences — and quietly piling up accolades from jazz writers and her fellow musicians. Leslie Gourse, of Jazz Times, describes her artistry with such phrases as: “Fierce, fascinating composer and pianist . . . ...

"Congratulations! Your CD - Long Ago Today - has been voted as one of Jazz Improv NY Magazine’s Top Jazz CDs of 2008. " - Eric Nemeyer (Publisher), Jazz Improv Magazine

"Her best to date, and a highly recommended recording, it seems Tonooka is still tapping potential while refining her search techniques on this very satisfying and enjoyable effort. " - Michael G. Nastos, **** 4 STARS - All Music Guide

"Tonooka's music is beautifully conceived and enthralling; a constant joy that will hopefully be followed up more often. " - Jerry D'Souza, All About Jazz

"... she plays with a mature and entirely personal style that makes her a contender for the ranks of today's jazz piano elite." - Jeff Dayton-Johnson, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Afrika Love

Artists Recording Collective
2021

buy

NOW: Solo Live at the...

ARC - Artists Recording Collective
2012

buy

Initiation

ARC - Artists Recording Collective
2010

buy

Long Ago Today

ARC - Artists Recording Collective
2008

buy

The Fountain

From: Afrika Love
By Sumi Tonooka

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