(born 1976) is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer, born in Kiryū, Gunma Prefecture."Chihiro Yamanaka Biography" AllMusic As of 2025, she was based in Tokyo. She has released more than 30 albums, most of them on Verve Records.
Career
Yamanaka studied at the Berklee College of Music"Chihiro Yamanaka Clinic" Berklee College of Music Retrieved January 28, 2013. and is an alumna of Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead residency program at the Kennedy Center."Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival" The Kennedy Center Retrieved January 28, 2013. She has played and recorded with the New York-based DIVA Jazz Orchestra, led by Sherrie Maricle, but is best known for her small group recordings, which are typically trios and have featured bassists such as Larry Grenadier and Robert Hurst, and drummers such as Jeff Ballard and Jeff "Tain" Watts.Anon. In Outside by the Swing [CD Booklet]. Verve.
Yamanaka has toured in Europe, the United States and Japan, and has played at several festivals, including the Umbria Jazz Festival in 2011 (a performance described by the Jazz Times' reviewer as "The biggest surprise of the night [...] Right and left, jaws were dropping",Russonello, Giovanni (July 12, 2011) "Umbria Jazz 2011" Jazz Times. and the Bologna Jazz Festival"Chihiro Yamanaka Trio" and Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival the following year. In 2011 and 2012 Yamanaka played Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with symphony orchestras in Japan."Chihiro Yamanaka" Scott Foster Management Retrieved January 29, 2013.
Yamanaka has released more than 20 recordings as a solo artist, principally on the Verve label,"Chihiro Yamanaka Discography" Universal Music Japan Retrieved February 16, 2013"Chihiro Yamanaka Discography" Universal Music Japan Retrieved February 16, 2013 most of which have been released internationally, and which include Live in New York, a DVD of her playing at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York."Chihiro Yamanaka Trio - CD Release Concert" Iridium Retrieved January 29, 2013. Two of her releases, Forever Begins (2010) and Reminiscence (2011), were given four-star ratings by AllMusic reviewers,Ruhlmann, William "Chihiro Yamanaka - Forever Begins" AllMusic reviewJurek, Thom "Chihiro Yamanaka - Reminiscence" AllMusic review the review of the latter concluding with, "Yamanaka is a fierce talent with robust chops, plenty of soul, and a seemingly endless imagination for the musical possibilities of the piano trio".
Yamanaka is one of the 'Frontier Ambassadors' for Kōriyama City.
Playing style John Fordham commented in 2016 that Yamanaka played, in the nature of Oscar Peterson, "straightahead classic jazz with the kind of showboating virtuosity that makes listeners doubt their senses".Fordham, John (April 13, 2016) "Chihiro Yamanaka Review – Effortless Virtuosity and Warmth". The Guardian. "Like Peterson, Yamanaka favours opening a song at a quiet, lounge-jazz sway and winding it up to a sprint just as listeners are settling back in their chairs."
Discography
As leader Year Title Label2001Living Without Friday Atelier Sawano2002When October GoesAtelier Sawano2003Leaning Forward (DVD)Atelier Sawano2004MadrigalAtelier Sawano2005Outside by the SwingVerve2006Lach Doch MalVerve2007AbyssVerve2007Live in Tokyo (DVD)Verve2008After Hours Verve2008BravogueVerve2009Runnin' Wild – Tribute to Benny Goodman Verve2010Forever BeginsVerve2011ReminiscenceVerve2011Live in New York (DVD)Verve 2012Still WorkingUniversal2012BecauseVerve2012After Hours 2 Verve2013Molto CantabileVerve2014Somethin' BlueBlue Note2014Live at Blue Note Tokyo (DVD)Blue Note/Universal2015SYNCOPATION HAZARDBlue Note/Universal2015Best 2005-2015Blue Note/Universal2015The SPHÈRES: Live in OSAKA!!Blue Note/Universal2016Guilty PleasureVerve2017Monk StudiesBlue Note/Universal2018UtopiaBlue Note/Universal2019Prima del TramontoBlue Note/Universal2020RosaBlue Note/Universal2022Today Is Another DayBlue Note/Universal2023Dolce VitaBlue Note/Universal2026Happy-Go-LuckyBlue Note/Universal
Others With Sherrie Maricle & The Diva Jazz Orchestra A Tommy Newsom Tribute (Lightyear Entertainment, 2005)
With Marlene VerPlanck It's How You Play the Game (Audiophile, 2004)
References
External links
Chihiro Yamanaka Official Site (mainly in Japanese) AllMusic pages