CHIHIRO YAMANAKA, Universal Music/Blue Note recording artist, is one of the most exciting jazz pianists and composers of her generation, and the leader of the CHIHIRO YAMANAKA TRIO.

Chihiro’s music pivots between her strikingly original compositions and her unique arrangements in which she accomplishes the impressive feat of introducing the element of surprise into some of the most famous songs in the  jazz repertoire, contemporary popular music, and even the works of classical composers.

Chihiro takes this approach to yet another level with her Beatles tribute, the new CD Because, a groundbreaking disc that features some of the most
creative reworkings of Beatles classics ever recorded.  Along with the title track, "Because" (from Abbey Road), Chihiro transforms such great songs as "Yesterday" and "Michelle" into glittering vistas of her musical imagination. 

Chihiro does all of her studio recording in New York City, working with some of the greatest talent in jazz, including bassist Ben Williams and drummer John Davis on her CD Molto Cantabile, a brilliant recording project in which Chihiro applies her imaginative arranging techniques to create an amazing fusion of jazz and classical music, featuring her own compositions and her arrangements of great works by such composers as Beethoven, Mozart and Liszt. 

The year 2014 has already featured a milestone for Chihiro:  Universal Music celebrated the 75th anniversary of Blue Note Records by releasing a CD compiled by Chihiro, My Favorite Blue Note, Chihiro's selection of classic Blue Note Records tracks by Monk, Blakey and many more great artists, with 2 new tracks by Chihiro herself.  As a newly minted Blue Note recording artist, she appeared in the 75th anniversary celebration concert, "Blue Note Plays The Blue Note," at the Blue Note Tokyo, performing with an all-star cast that included bassist Ron Carter.  Chihiro's relationship with Universal has flourished for several years, with her CDs released primarily on Universal/Verve until her recent switch to Universal's famous Blue Note imprint. 

Chihiro performs regularly on 3 continents.  Her recent U.S. concerts have included the Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, recorded for broadcast on National Public Radio's "JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater."  In New York City, Chihiro's home base, her performances have included Iridium Jazz Club, the Blue Note, Carnegie Hall and Dizzy's at Jazz At Lincoln Center.  Chihiro is active on the west coast (with repeat appearances at Yoshi's San Francisco, where her debut concert was a near-sellout at the 350-seat venue, and Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Dizzy's San Diego and the Blue Whale), in Boston (Café 939, Regattabar), where her popularity is influenced by her status as a Berklee graduate, and the Washington/Baltimore area (Blues Alley, Kennedy Center, An die Musik, Warner Theater). 

In Japan, Chihiro routinely sells out the top jazz clubs such as the Blue Note Tokyo, she has topped the jazz charts with each of her Universal CDs, and as a classical pianist she has performed Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" with major symphony orchestras.  She has become a multi-media celebrity in Japan, hosting her own radio show, making TV appearances, and authoring a book, "The Landscape With Jazz."  She is a multiple winner of the JazzJapan Awards and the Swing Journal Reader's Poll, and she appears on the cover of JazzJapan Magazine with regularity.  Jazz Life Magazine called Chihiro "one of the greatest jazz talents in decades." 

The Chihiro Yamanaka "European Trio" makes 3 tours of Europe per year, and the band is especially popular in Italy, where its most celebrated concerts have included opening for Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller in the "Tribute to Miles" concert at the Umbria Jazz Festival.  Elsewhere in Europe and the Mideast, Chihiro is a frequent visitor to Paris (performing at Duc des Lombards, Sunset-Sunside), Berlin (A-Trane), the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, and many other destinations. 

Keeping pace with Chihiro's whirlwind touring schedule is her prolific international recording career with Universal.  In the past 2 years she has had four CD releases.  Besides Because and Molto Cantabile, they include After Hours 2 and the U.S. release of Reminiscence.  In the same period Chihiro and Universal also have released an EP, Still Working, and a DVD, Live In New York, videotaped at Iridium Jazz Club.  The Live In New York DVD gives Chihiro's fans the opportunity to experience on video the spectacular visual presentation that has been seen by anyone who has witnessed the fireball of energy and virtuosity on display at a live Chihiro concert appearance.