Home » Jazz Musicians » Miho Sasaki

Miho Sasaki

Miho Sasaki is a jazz pianist originally from Japan. Born in Tokyo, she began to play piano at the age of 5 and continued studying music through high school. After her exposure to jazz and enrolling in a jazz program for two years, she began her musical career. She has performed in many venues and has taught in Tokyo. In 2016, she received a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation to study abroad, which led her to the jazz program of SUNY Purchase. Approaching her third year in the program, she was selected as the prestigious James Moody Scholarship recipient. She has performed at many jazz venues in New York City, such as Tomi Jazz, Cleopatra's Needle, and Knickerbocker Bar and Grill. In 2018, she led her trio on a tour in Japan. And she also attended a historical jazz competition in Tokyo, called the "38th Asakusa Jazz Contest," and her trio won third place. In 2021, she released her album "From My Heart".

Miho Sasaki Trio: From My Heart

Read "From My Heart" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
July 1, 2021

Japanese-born pianist Miho Sasaki put down some productive roots in the United States, studying piano with Donald Vega at SUNY Purchase College, where she earned a James Moody Scholarship. The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic sent her back home to Tokyo, where she live streams her music and teaches online. But the challenges of Covid did not prevent her from recording and releasing her debut CD, From My Heart. The first impression coming from the album's first spin ...

This is definitely the case for Miho Sasaki's emotional and one-of-a-kind release, From My Heart. The artist has developed a really fluent and diverse vocabulary, spicing up her sound with some incredibly articulate vibes, which sets the bar higher in terms of exploring different genres and forming a unique sound. Miho is a very accomplished pianist, and each song on this album feels like a taste of her incredible skills and dynamic range. (Jazz Coner, 2021)

Miho Sasaki, a pianist, attracting a lot of attention in the jazz scene…completed her first full- length album, "From My Heart."…Sasaki expressed her unique musical individuality with the past pianists' traditional style…With the release of this album, she has shown that she is a solid performer in the Japanese jazz scene…her furthermore musical achievement should be of great interest to Japan. (Jazz Japan, 2021)

With great respect for the giants, her style is in the center of mainstream jazz that has evolved a modern approach…The piano of Miho Sasaki, whose sound is firmly and asserted from slow songs to contemporary ones, is at the center of the ensemble. As a result, a perfect musical triangle with Miho Sasaki as the center is completed. (Jazz Japan, 2021)

Sasaki's music sounds American, as if the D.N.A. of the Great American Songbook, jazz standards and the blues are embedded deep down in her bones…The Garland mention seems especially appropriate as"Room 81" even includes—to go along with Sasaki's Garland-esque light touch and keyboard sparkle…Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" get a beautifully reverent treatment, with Sasaki sounding especially pensive, leading into "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," which was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1927, and sounding here, in 2021, like a rollicking good time down on Bourbon Street. (All About Jazz, 2021)

Sasaki received the honor of being awarded the highest award, "James Moody Jazz Scholarship," which is given to only one person in a year at the university...She has appeared in famous jazz clubs such as Birdland...Miho toured Japan in a triumphant return in 2018 and won the silver medal at the 38th Asakusa Jazz Contest, which she participated in during the tour…recorded the first album in two days this spring. The first leader album...is a good board where you can enjoy Sasaki's delicate touch and melodic and abundant phrases, from the number reminiscent of the evergreen "Bebop era" 1950s. The contents are enriched to the one where you can listen to a groovy interplay full of live feeling as if the three players were playing at the moment brilliantly. (Nishitama-Shinbum, 2021)

Show less