In 2007 DownBeat Critics Poll recognized Chie Imaizumi as a " Rising Star Composer"!
Since the release of Chie Imaizumi "Unfailing Kindness"(Capri Records), it has received critical acclaim and appeared in five categories on the ballot for the 50th Grammy Awards.
One of the most well-received and up-and-coming musicians of her generation, Composer/Arranger/Conductor Chie Imaizumi's music has been received with standing ovations by audiences and accolades from the press(pronounce Chee-ay Ee-my-zoo-me). Her new CD "Unfailing Kindness"(Capri Records) is produced by world-renowned trumpet recording artist Greg Gisbert who is also featured on the date. The recording features a program of original compositions and arrangements by Chie and an all star line-up of musicians from New York and Colorado that include the phenomenal baritone saxophonist, Gary Smulyan.
Chie has worked for Mr. Teo Macero, Dave Schroeder, Big Apple Circus, Convergence, and John Gunther as their copyist. Chie is a guest artist for the Denver School of the Arts where she teaches Jazz Composition Master Class.
Far from a stranger to the stage, Chie started her musical career at the early age of four, when she started playing the electric organ in her native homeland of Saitama, Japan. Continuing with the instrument all through her early years, Chie went on to win the Yamaha Electone Competition for outstanding performance on the electric organ at the regional and national levels several years in a row. At 18, Chie began her intensive study of the jazz language at Senzoku Gakuen Junior College in Kanagawa, Japan, while changing her primary musical focus to the piano, and graduated top of her class.
While at Kanagawa, Chie appeared on several CD releases. Under the direction of producer and percussionist, Youichi Hosohata, Chie performed on "Voice Vol. 3" on piano and keyboards. During this time she also recorded with Syamisen (traditional Japanese instrument) player Masahiro Nitta on King Records release entitled " SOU". Soon after entering Berklee in the fall of 2001, while attending the institution on a Full Merit Scholarship, Chie began to shift her focus from performing to composing. Her extraordinary talents being soon recognized by the professors at Berklee, she was awarded the Herb Pomeroy award for Jazz Composition in 2003. She had the extreme honor of performing her compositions with her own band at the 2004 North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague, Netherland! Her compositions have been performed with countless different bands at the IAJE Conference, the Regattabar Jazz Festival, the New Music Festival, and the Berklee Jazz Festival, to name just a few. Chie Imaizumi recorded her demo CD in July 2005 entitled ' A Change for the Better'. This disc features all original compositions by Chie, performed some amazing musicians including Greg Gisbert and Phil Wilson.
Upon graduating from Berklee, while keeping a busy schedule of composing and conducting her original music for variety of musical groups, Chie has also kept an active touring schedule, both here in the United States and abroad. Chie has toured Europe extensively, in 2005 alone having completed both a three week tour in the spring, and a three month tour in the winter, with the widely acclaimed Edith Piaf tribute band Ziaf. While in Europe, on top of playing performances nightly, the group also appeared on the foremost Radio stations and premier publications in Paris. While busy in their touring schedule, Ziaf caught the attention of Zoom-Zoom Productions and had the pleasure of being featured in the film/documentary Marguerite Monnot, Dans I'ombre de Piaf, having just been released in November of 2005.
Chie has also toured across her native country, Japan, numerous times, with the high energy and well received voice and piano duo " Tsune-Chie", of which she is the principal collaborator, composer, and pianist for the group. They have toured the country three times in the last three years, playing nightly without fail to packed houses and sold out shows. In 2002, she also had pleasure of touring Japan with rising stars and Geneon Entertainment Artists, the jazz vocal group " Syncopation ".
