PERFORMER BIO:
Yoko Miwa
Internationally acclaimed pianist with her remarkable telepathy and infectious energy, Yoko Miwa is one of the most powerful and compelling performers on the scene today. Yoko was named a Rising Star Pianist in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 DownBeat Critics Poll. The Yoko Miwa Trio's 2021 release Songs of Joy received wide acclaim and reached #1 on national jazz radio charts and was voted a best jazz album of 2021 in the DownBeat 86th Annual Readers Poll. Jazziz called it “a radiant new collection.” CD Hotlist said “...yet another triumph from one of America's finest jazz pianists, composers, and bandleaders.” Their 2019 CD, Keep Talkin', showcases Miwa's fine playing and artful compositions and the trio's uncanny musical camaraderie. DownBeat gave the recording four stars, calling it “a beautifully constructed album” and noting “the drive and lyricism of a pianist and composer at home in bebop, gospel, pop, and classical.” JazzTimes also reviewed the album favorably, praising Miwa's “jaw-dropping degree of technique.” The album enjoyed seven weeks in the top 10 on Jazz Week's charts, much like its predecessor, Miwa's 2017 release Pathways, which also made Jazz Week's top 10 for several weeks. In a 2017 feature article on Miwa, DownBeat noted her “impressive technique and a tuneful lyricism that combines an Oscar Peterson-ish hard swing with Bill Evans-like introspection.”
For more than a decade Miwa's trio has played regularly at major jazz clubs in and around their home city of Boston (The Mad Monkfish (Cambridge, MA), Les Zygomates Wine Bar & Bistro (Boston, MA), Scullers Jazz Club (Boston, MA), Regattabar (Cambridge, MA), Ryles Jazz Club (Cambridge, MA), The Side Door Jazz Club (Old Lyme, CT), as well as venues around the world. A favorite of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Miwa was chosen to play on “Marian McPartland & Friends,” part of the Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival. She was also chosen to perform at Lincoln Center's annual Jazz and Leadership Workshop for The National Urban League's Youth Summit. Miwa also appears regularly at New York's famed Blue Note Jazz Club as well as Birdland.
Yoko has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of jazz greats including Sheila Jordan, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Jazzmeia Horn, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Washington, Kevin Mahogany, John Lockwood, Dominique Eade, Calvin Keys, and Johnathan Blake and many others.
In 2018 she performed on the main stage at the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Litchfield Jazz Festival, where her trio drew the largest audience of any act. She is a Yamaha Pianos Artist, JVC Victor Entertainment and Ubuntu Music recording artist, 10X nominated and 2019 Winner in the Boston Music Awards as Jazz Artist of the Year, and Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll winner.
Will Slater
Will Slater, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, is an in-demand bassist, performing regularly in New York and New England. In addition to teaching students of all levels, Will has performed with Jerry Bergonzi, Jeff “Tain” Watts, George Garzone, Gary Thomas, Peter Bernstein, Anthony Wonsey, Bruce Barth, Kenny Werner, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese, Dayna Stephens, Ari Hoenig, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Benito Gonzalez, David Schnitter, Jeb Patton, Tommy Campbell, Joe Hunt, Bob Moses, Kimberly Thompson, Mark Guiliana, Yoron Israel, Rudy Royston, Jeff Hershfield, Tim Miller, Vardan Ovsepian, Joe Magnarelli, Phil Grenadier, Rob Schneiderman, Greg Hopkins, Jason Palmer, Greg Osby, Yoko Miwa, Gabriel Guerrero, and many other artists. He has performed at such venues as the Blue Note, Birdland, 55 Bar, Smalls, Minton's, Mezzrow, Keystone Korner, Cornelia Street Café, Scullers, the Regattabar, Wally's, Jordan Hall, the Ryles Jazz Club and the Lily Pad. He has recorded with Jerry Bergonzi, the Kim Thompson Quartet, the Phil Grenadier Trio, the Yoko Miwa Trio, and the Joe Delaney Trio. In 2009 he was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk competition. Will has also appeared internationally at such festivals as the Panama, Romania, and Aspen jazz festivals and has toured in France, Italy, Japan, Colombia, and Eastern Europe in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.
Scott Goulding
Scott has recorded at the world-famous NYC studio Power Station (Avatar) and also at the legendary Sear Sound with James Farber as the engineer. He has toured throughout the United States and internationally. Scott has performed with Sheila Jordan, George Garzone, Larry Grenadier, Jerry Bergonzi, Joanne Brackeen, Michel Camilo, Frank Tiberi, Dominique Eade, Jay Clayton, David Amram, Barry Ries, Peter Eldridge, Kevin Mahogany, Charles Neville, Alan Broadbent, Howard Levy, Brenda Hopkins Miranda, Jeremy Pelt, Hiromi, Robin McKelle, Anat Cohen, Lionel Loueke, Marco Benevento, Avishai Cohen, Chiara Civello, Hans Glawischnig, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Eli Degibri. He currently holds the drum chair in the critically acclaimed Yoko Miwa Trio and for more than a decade was the drummer for piano legend Harvey Diamond in his trio and quartet with Hannah Rose Diamond on vocals. Scott is an active jazz educator conducting private lessons at his drum studio as well as online. Scott is an endorser for Canopus Drum.
