CHIEKO YANO, BLUE SONATA by Scott Yanow

Chieko Yano is an up-and-coming jazz pianist and singer who already has her own distinctive sound and style. Although Blue Sonata is her recording debut, she emerges fully formed, adding to the vocabulary of jazz with five new songs while not sounding like any of her predecessors.

Born in Yokohama, Japan, she remembers, "I heard classical music very early and took piano lessons from the time I was three. My parents chose my record collection and they were all classical records. However in high school I was a saxophone player and I
did not touch the piano or sing for quite awhile. I found that I loved the freedom and interaction of jazz, playing with other people and not always knowing what was going to happen next." Determined to be a composer and arranger, she gradually returned to both singing and playing piano, often working as a backup singer and writing arrangements for other performers.

In 1998, Chieko moved to Chicago to attend school Soon she was working regularly as a pianist, working as both a sideman and a leader, sharing the stage with Wynton Marsalis, Harold Jones, John Fedchock and Carl Allen. She met and married trombonist Tom Garling and started to raise a family while continuing to play music. In 2006 she began to sing much more often and is now gaining a strong reputation as a pianist-singer with her own approach to jazz.

Quite a bit of planning went into Blue Sonata. Chieko Yano utilizes some of her favorite musicians. "I prefer to have players who have a floating and loose feel to their rhythms, not choppy at all. That is especially important for the drummer, and I prefer that my drummer be able to read music too. I'm fortunate to have Noritaka Tanaka who I've known for 13 years. On bass I use Patrick Williams or Matt Young. Patrick, who I met eight years ago, has a swinging feel and a sound like Ray Brown. Matt Young is new to Chicago having just moved here last year. He is young, knows a lot of songs, and is very good at performing with singers." In addition tenor-saxophonist Goef Bradfield helps out on two selections and Tom Garling guests on "Should I Wait For."

The program opens with three of Chieko's colorful and thoughtful originals. "Blue Sonata" is a wistful love song that finds her questioning her good fortune and asking "Was it just for now, or was it for good?" "Foie Gras At The Motel 6" is an ironic twist on a real incident. Tom Garling played at a luxurious hotel and, to his surprise, was served food that was barely edible. "He thought maybe I should write a song about
that but I decided to write about the opposite, having a surprisingly great meal at an inexpensive motel." The catchy minor blues features a strong tenor solo from Goef Bradfield. On the bossa-nova "Should I Wait For," a piece about difficult decisions with lyrics in both Japanese and English, Chieko is featured on guitar and, via overdubbing, as her own vocal group, with Tom Garling adding a fluent trombone solo.

"Someday My Prince Will Come," taken as a duet with Patrick Williams, precedes the Japanese folk song, "Koujou No Tsuki," which is effectively turned into jazz and features Matt Young's bowed bass at its start along with Chieko's haunting vocal. "Like Someone In Love" shows off Chieko's melodic invention as she takes the vintage piece as a piano solo. A trio of standards, Jobim's "Once I Loved," Duke Ellington's "Solitude" (which has Chieko's overdubbed voices singing a capella) and Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To," sound fresh and new in these inventive interpretations.

"Embrace," which has Scott Mason on bass along with Chieko and Nori Tanaka, is a lyrical and introspective ballad. A swinging version of "The Days And Wine And Roses" precedes the set's final number, "The Moment You Touch Me," a song with a particularly memorable melody. Throughout Blue Sonata, the many aspects of
Chieko Yano's musical career are heard including classical sonata forms, impressionistic harmony, original chord changes, the swing and improvising of jazz, and an Asian flavor.
For the future, Chieko's main goal is to have her music more widely heard, not only in Chicago and the United States but in Japan. With the release of Blue Sonata, it seems only a matter of time before many others will discover her strong musical talent.

Scott Yanow,
Author of nine jazz books including Jazz On Film,
Trumpet Kings and Jazz On Record 1917-76