Yoko Miwa has spent the past decade honing one of the most musical trio sounds on the jazz scene. Yoko has recording 6 critically acclaimed discs, serves on the faculty at Berklee College of Music, and plays an oversized role in the Boston music landscape. Performance and recording credits include Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lynne Carrington, Sheila Jordan, and Kevin Mahogany.
“Miwa plays with the confidence and fluidity of a seasoned jazz musician. She has the enviable ability to play in any context with authenticity, clarity, and spontaneity…” JazzTimes
a tightly spiraling, interlocking web of melody…pensively spacious minor-key blues," New York Music Daily

This concert is presented with the support of the Embassy of Japan.

See Yoko Miwa live at the Blue Note in performance

“Artist of the Year”, “Composer of the Year” Washington City Paper, Mark G. Meadows is already an accomplished jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and educator. Mark will make his acting debut as Jelly Roll Morton in the DC premiere of Jelly's Last Jam at Signature Theatre. Mark's piano and vocal chops are a natural fit for the role of one of the most legendary and notorious jazz figures. In 2014, Mark released his second album, Somethin’ Good, a reflection of his versatile musical view that encompasses jazz, R&B, gospel, and rock. Mark’s newest project, To the People, reflects his passion for social justice. Mark has appeared with Bobby McFerrin, Kendrick Lamar, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling, and Warren Wolf at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Blues Alley, The Kennedy Center, Smalls, The Strathmore, Bohemian Caverns, and Twins Jazz. Recent foreign appearances have included the Qatar, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Canada and The Caribbean. Mark also teaches as an adjunct instructor at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts

Watch Mark Meadows in performance

Orrin Evans keeps his music on the front burner with the neo-soul/acid jazz ensemble Luv Park, the collective trio Tarbaby, and the raucous Captain Black Big Band. With 25 CD's to his credit, Orrin Evans paints with a broad musical brush that encompasses small and large jazz ensembles, poetry collaborations, and film scoring. He has worked with poets Sonia Sanchez and Amiri Baraka, and created multi-media dance projects. Orrin has scored music for PBS documentary Revolution ’67, Jazz at Lincoln Center (in honor of Sun Ra’s centennial) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (celebrating Thomas Hart Benton’s mural “America Today.”) Orrin has recently collaborated with jazz notables Bobby Watson, Ralph Peterson Nicholas Payton, Oliver Lake, JD Allen, and Christian McBride.
"Wherever else he went, be it from angular, choppy chords and Monkish dissonance to ragtimey simplicity, Evans never left the blues far behind." Jazz Times

Watch Orrin Evans in performance
photo: Jimmy Katz

GRAMMY® winning Buenos Aires native Fernando Otero is a compositional and pianistic powerhouse. He crosses genres with his improvisational flair, deeply rooted in Tango, yet effortlessly quoting from the classical and jazz lexicons. Commissions from performers and institutions alike include The New York State Council on The Arts , Lincoln Center, Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, Paquito D’Rivera, and Arturo O’Farrill.
"Mr. Otero vibrantly summoned tango ancestors while also acknowledging Bartok and Prokofiev," The New York Times
"alternates between jagged suspenseful crescendos and long, sinuous melodies. This music bounds out of the speakers and leaps into every corner of the room at once, exhilarating but also bewildering." Jazziz Magazine
"a resourceful pianist and composer...a darkly ravishing album," The New York Times

Watch Fernando Otero in performance