Fukumi

Vocalist FUKUMI was born in Aichi prefecture in Japan. She showed a strong interest in music as an infant after exposure to great artists such as Nat ‘King’ Cole, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Rosemary Clooney through her parents’ record collection.

She started playing the piano at the tender age of four. In 1986 FUKUMI was a finalist in the Bach piano competition, receiving the ‘Encouragement Prize’ for her efforts.

FUKUMI attended Musashino Music College in Tokyo, where she majored in classical piano and vocal studies. It was around this time that she became very heavily involved in her passion for jazz music, after joining the Waseda University Jazz Workshop.

In an impressive career, FUKUMI has appeared on many festivals as well as Tokyo’s famed jazz clubs such as Alfie, Body & Soul and NARU to name a few. In September 1986 FUKUMI was invited by legendary jazz producer Todd Barkan to appear at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York to take part in their ‘Women In Jazz Festival ‘. More engagements were soon to follow at other famous jazz clubs in Manhattan such as Smalls, and The Kitano Hotel.

FUKUMI made her debut album in 2001 with the CD ‘Silly Habits’ recorded in New York produced for the Stellar Record label.

In 2003 she was invited by FM port radio in Niigata to host their late night jazz show ‘For Your Dreams’.

2006 saw another trip to New York to record her second album ‘The Look Of love’ for the ‘What’s New’ label produced by Todd Barkan. For this recording FUKUMI selected some of New York’s jazz elite to accompany her, including David Hazeltine (piano) Jim Rotondi (trumpet / Flugelhorn) JohnWebber (b) and Mark Taylor (d).

She has received reviews for her work in such notable publications as Swing journal, Cadence magazine, Jazzis magazine and AllAboutJazz magazine.

Presently FUKUMI combines a very busy schedule performing, as well as teaching classical piano and singing for Yamaha in Tokyo.

Awards

'Encouragement Prize' - 1986 Bach piano competition Tokyo Japan

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