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Sumi Tonooka's solo Earshot Festival concert on Jazz Northwest

Daniel Sheehan

Pianist Sumi Tonooka was born in Philadelphia and is well-established as a pianist, composer and teacher in New York, but her roots are in the Seattle area. Her mother grew up on Bainbridge Island where she lived until at age 16, she and other Japanese-Americans were shipped to the Internment Camps of World War II.  Sumi Tonooka planned a visit last Summer to connect with her mother's early life on Bainbridge, and growing out of that visit she became a Seattle resident last Summer.

Sumi Tonooka played an enthusiastically received solo concert at The Chapel performance space as part of the Earshot Festival this Fall.  Her program included several of her original compositions, as well as standards and music by Mary Lou Williams, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.  An hour of highlights from that concert will air on Jazz Northwest, this Sunday afternoon at 2 PM Pacific on 88-5, KPLU and kplu.org.

Sumi Tonooka has recorded and performed with trios and quartets including Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Lewis Nash, John Blake, Craig Handy and others.  Her latest recording "Now" is a two CD solo concert recording on the ARC label.

Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for 88.5 KPLU.  The program is also available as a podcast at kplu.org after the broadcast.

More info:

sumitonooka.com

earshot.org

jazznw.org

Jim has been a fixture on Seattle radio since 1961. He was the host of Jazz After Hours on Public Radio International from 1984-2014. Currently Jim has been producing Jazz Northwest for KNKX since 1988. This weekly program focuses on the regional jazz scene and frequently includes performances Jim records on location for Jazz Northwest.