Miho Nozawa

At the age of three, Miho Nozawa started piano lessons at The Yamaha Music School in Japan and later studied with the renowned Kyoko Sugiura in her hometown, Niigata City. After High school, she went on to study at Gonzaga University in Washington State and continued taking classical piano lessons with Joseph Klice and started Jazz piano lessons as well.In 1997, she received the Washington State Music Teachers Association Award and participated in the Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival before entering Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. on a partial scholarship to study Jazz Performance. While at Berklee, she studied with music greats such as Joanne Brackeen, Bob Winter, Luciana Souza, Machello Perriteri and many other notable musicians. In her spare time, she continued to hone her craft playing for various events and private functions in the Boston area.After she was awarded a degree in Music Concentration of Jazz Performance, she moved to New York City in November, 2000 where she continued to play regularly in local jazz clubs in the New York metropolitan area.In 1999 Ms. Nozawa released her first solo effort titled It Could Happen to You. The CD contained her interpretation of well known standards such as the title track, Thad Jones "A Child is Born" and Cedar Walton's "Bolivia" as well as two original compositions, "A Snow Fall" and "You Might Be Sleepy". With the release of At the East Village, Miho once again proves that less is more as she approaches each song on the CD with a sense of simple intensity. The CD is also a testimony to her growth as a musician, composer, arranger and producer, as well.After listening to the CD, one senses that there is an intensity beneath the simplicity and passion behind the technique. And in the tradition of contemporaries such as Diane Krall and Eliane Elias, Miho continues the tradition of the jazz with a sense and style all her own.