Junko Onishi (musician)

Junko Onishi
Birth name	Junko Onishi
Born	(1967-04-16) April 16, 1967 Kyoto, Japan
Genres	Jazz
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Piano

Junko Onishi (大西 順子, Onishi Junko, born April 16, 1967 in Kyoto) is a Japanese jazz pianist; she plays in the post-bop genre.

Early career

After studying at Berklee Onishi moved to New York City, where she played with Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Kenny Garrett, and Mingus Dynasty. She has also worked with Jackie McLean, Holly Cole, and Billy Higgins, among others, and recorded eight CDs for Blue Note (Somethin' Else in Japan) as a leader.

Although she lists Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman as her primary influences, her playing is also reminiscent of McCoy Tyner and contemporaries such as Kenny Kirkland and Mulgrew Miller.

Onishi appeared in the documentary Blue Note: A Story of Modern Jazz (1997), playing the song "Trinity" ("Quick") from her album Play, Piano, Play.

Hiatus and later career

Onishi stopped performing in the late 1990s, having chosen to study and practise. When Jaki Byard, her mentor at that time, died in 1999, she stopped playing completely for two years: "I felt like I lost everything; I felt like I didn't have any more mentors". She had to redevelop her technique when she decided to return, and started going to a gym to help her cope with the physical demands of playing.

Blue Note released her trio album, Musical Moments in 2009. Baroque (Verve), with Onishi leading a much larger group, followed a year later.

Discography

Albums as leader

Year recorded	Title	Label	Notes
1992	Wow	Somethin' Else	Trio, with Tomoyuki Shima (b), Dairiki Hara (d)
1993	Cruisin'	Somethin' Else	Trio, with Rodney Whitaker (b), Billy Higgins (d)
1994	Live at the Village Vanguard	Somethin' Else	Trio, with Reginald Veal (b), Herlin Riley (d).
1994	Live At The Village Vanguard, Volume II	Somethin' Else	Trio, with Reginald Veal (b), Herlin Riley (d).
1995	Piano Quintet Suite	Somethin' Else	Quintet, with Eiichi Hayashi (as), Marcus Belgrave (tp, voc), Rodney Whitaker (b), Tony Rabeson (d)
1996	Play, Piano, Play	Somethin' Else	Trio, with Shigeo Aramaki (b), Dairiki Hara (d). In concert
1998	Fragile	Somethin' Else	Onishi also plays keyboards. With Reginald Veal (b), Karriem Riggins, Motohiko Hino, Tamaya Honda (d; separately)
	Self-portrait	Somethin' Else	Compilation
2008-09	Musical Moments	Somethin' Else	Trio, with Yousuke Inoue (b), Gean Jackson (d). Bonus track from 2008 is trio, with Reginald Veal (b), Herlin Riley (d)
2010	Baroque	Verve

Other recordings

Year recorded	Leader	Title	Label
1994	Shigeharu Mukai	J Quintet Featuring Junko Onishi	Somethin' Else
1996	Jackie McLean	Hat Trick	Blue Note
1996	Joe Lovano	Tenor Time	Somethin' Else
1999	Phil Woods	Cool Woods	Somethin' Else

External links

• Official label website - EMI Music Japan
• Official website
• JAZZDISCO.org Junko Onishi Catalog