Meg Okura

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meg Okura ( Japanese 大 倉 恵 , born August 3, 1973 in Tokyo ) is a jazz musician ( violin , composition ) and band leader from Japan and living in the United States .

Live and act

Meg Okura had her first music lessons at the Toho Gakuen Music School from the age of five. She gained her first musical experience as a church musician on piano and organ in the evangelical church in her hometown of Ome. In the early 1990s, Okura toured with the Asian Youth Orchestra ; In 1992 she appeared for the first time in the USA with Alexander Schneider and the New York String Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in classical violin playing at the Juilliard School . In 1998 she presented her debut album Peace in My Heart in Japan ; first recordings in the field of jazz were made in 2000 when she was in the Axis String Quartet and Lee Konitzrecorded the album Play French Impressionist Music from the 20th Century .

Okura has directed the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble since the mid-2000s ; In 2008 the debut album Meg Okura's Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble was released , followed by Naima (2009). With the ensemble and Tom Harrell as a guest musician, she recorded her third album Ima Ima in 2015 ; other contributors were her husband Sam Newsome , Sam Sadigursky , Brian Marsella , and Rez Abbasi . With her orchestra she performed in 2013 with a program of music by Ryuichi Sakamoto ; Helen Sung (piano), Anne Drummond & Jamie Baum (flutes), Dezron Douglas (double bass) and EJ Strickland (drums) played in their band at this time . She also worked with the Brian Landrus Orchestra ( Generations , 2017), in the NPO Trio ( Live at The Stone (2016) with Jean-Michel Pilc and Sam Newsome) and in the formations Pharaoh's Daughter (with Basya Schechter, Daphna Mor, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz), Sirius String Quartet , in the Steve Swallow / Ohad Talmor Sextet ( L'Histoire du Clochard (The Bum's Tale) , 2003) and The Scorchio Quartet . In the field of jazz she was involved in 27 recording sessions between 2000 and 2017, including a. also with Darryl Hall , Jeremy Pelt , Barbara Rosene , Erin Bode , Vince Giordano , Dianne Reeves , Nick Didkovsky , George Colligan and JC Sanford .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meg Okura at Goldenland
  2. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed October 19, 2018)
personal data
SURNAME Okura, Meg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd August 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo