Miki Yamanaka 山中みき | |
---|---|
Born | 1990 Kyoto |
Origin | Kobe, Japan |
Genres | Jazz |
Instrument(s) | Piano, organ[1] |
Spouse | Jimmy Macbride[1] |
Alma mater | Queens College |
Website | mikiyamanaka |
Miki Yamanaka (Japanese: 山中みき) (born 1990) is a Japanese jazz musician currently living in New York City.[2]
Miki Yamanaka lived in Kyoto until she was 10, when she moved to Kobe.[3] She became interested in jazz while playing in her junior high school big band.[3] She moved to New York in 2012 and took a compositional residency at the Kennedy Center in 2015.[2] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she recorded the album Stairway to the Stars in her living room with Mark Turner and Orlando le Fleming.[4] For her first gig after the pandemic, Yamanaka wore a kimono outfit to honor her mother; since then she has dressed in one every time she plays.[5]