Yoko Suzuki

A jazz pianist and composer/arranger from Yokohama. She became fascinated with jazz music and started playing jazz piano when she was in junior high school.

In 2013, she enrolled in the jazz department at the Kunitachi College of Music, where she studied jazz piano under Makoto Ozone and Satoshi Shionoya. At the Tokyo Jazz Festival in 2015 and 2016, two of her original songs were performed by the JFC all-star big band led by Ozone.

After graduating from the university, she received a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied jazz composition and jazz performance under Greg Hopkins, Bob Pilkington, Ayn Inserto, and Tim Ray.

In 2020, she graduated from Berklee College of Music with honors. During her time at the university, she received various awards and scholarships from both inside and outside the university.

2019: Honorable mention / ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award (“Progress”)

2019: Honorable mention / JEN Young Composer’s Showcase (“Cat Tricks”)

2020: Winner / DOWNBEAT 43rd annual student music award in the category of “Original Composition for Large Ensemble” (“Hmmmm”)

2021: Winner / ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award (“Flies In May”)

She returned to Japan in 2020 and began performing in the Tokyo area. She is also active as a composer and arranger, providing music for the Island Torch Festival in Taiwan and the tuba quartet “Tubassadors,” in a wide range of fields from chamber music to big bands.

On January 11, 2020, she released the album "The Moment" with bassist Kodama Yuki under the name "Yoko & Yuki Duo Project". The unit has been active both in Japan and abroad, including a successful tour of Taiwan.

In 2021, she appeared as an arranger and performer in the performance "Tribute to Chick Corea" by Ozone Makoto Featuring No Name Horses.

In 2023, at the 41st Asakusa JAZZ Contest, she won the Grand Prix in the Band Category and the Asakusa JAZZ Award (1st place in the audience vote) with her band YOKO SUZUKI QUINTET.

She has performed with Ozone Makoto, Ito Kimiko, Sakai Kousuke, Inoue Yosuke, Kaneko Ken, Ukon Kenichi (theater company "Shinkansen"), and others. (Titles omitted)