Toshiko Akiyoshi

Toshiko Akiyoshi stands out among jazz arrangers for weaving traditional Japanese elements into charts that otherwise lean toward bop, drawing initial inspiration from Gil Evans and Thad Jones. Equally capable on piano, she delivers a robust and often overlooked style rooted in the Bud Powell lineage. Born in China, she relocated to Japan in 1946, where she performed locally and counted Sadao Watanabe among her early sidemen. Encouraged by Oscar Peterson after he took notice of her playing, she attended Berklee from 1956 through 1959. For a period she was married to altoist Charlie Mariano, and together they co-led the Toshiko Mariano Quartet during the first half of the 1960s. In 1962 she joined Charles Mingus for several projects, among them his ill-fated Town Hall Concert, after which she spent three years back in Japan. By 1965 she had resettled in New York, where she hosted a radio series before forming a new quartet in 1970 with her second husband, Lew Tabackin. Following their move to Los Angeles in 1972, Akiyoshi assembled a strong big band featuring soloists such as Bobby Shew, Gary Foster, and Tabackin. The ensemble cut several notable albums before she chose to return to New York in 1981. Since that relocation both she and Tabackin have remained busy, though the reconstituted orchestra has garnered less attention than it did on the West Coast. Across several decades Akiyoshi has earned recognition as one of the foremost jazz arrangers.