Yoko in the Toledo Blade Newspaper.
Say John and the people you’re with are not necessarily going to think of John Lennon these days.
Say Yoko and — you know — a lot of people still think of Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.
That could change with the continued emergence of powerhouse jazz pianist Yoko Miwa, who rips through 11 beautiful songs - six covers and five originals - with rich and gorgeous chord progressions and substantive keyboard mashing.
Miwa sets a great pace — upbeat, without being too aggressive — in these songs of joy she compiled as a counterweight to the doldrums of the coronavirus pandemic and other issues happening in her life during 2020, such as her father’s passing after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Miwa’s trio had been a fixture at Boston’s Les Zygomates Wine Bar & Bistro, but the pandemic forced it to close its doors for good.
Now, instead of wallowing in the doldrums, being a musical nomad looking for a new home, or trying to reinvent herself through online experimentation, Miwa went back to the comfort of the studio and frenetically led her fellow musicians, Will Slater on acoustic bass and Scott Goulding on drums, on an inspirational set. Brad Barrett subs for Slater on acoustic bass for the final song.
The disc begins with a cover of the highly underrated singer-songwriter Richie Havens’ “Freedom,” which he performed at Woodstock. Other covers include songs by the great pianist Billy Preston (who, coincidentally, has been referred to as the “Fifth Beatle” over the years because of his studio work with the Fab Four), as well as one written by the iconic and definitely eccentric jazz pianist-composer Thelonious Monk.
The classically trained Miwa - no stranger to Jazz at Lincoln Center — shows her own chops as a jazz pianist and composer in this all-instrumental disc, which is about looking forward, not backward — looking up, not down.
Her cheerful personality and virtuoso gifts come through on this disc.
First Published February 23, 2021, 8:06am