Junko Onishi (musician)

Junko Onishi
大西 順子
Born
Ōnishi Junko

(1967-04-16) April 16, 1967
Kyoto, Japan
GenresJazz
Occupations
  • Musician
  • composer
  • producer
InstrumentPiano
Years active1989–present
Labels
WebsiteOfficial website

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

Early career

After studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, 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 has recorded eight CDs for Blue Note Records (Somethin' Else, in Japan) as a leader.

In May 1994, Onishi played for a week at the Village Vanguard, with Wynton Marsalis's sidemen, bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Herlin Riley.[1]

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 practice. 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."[2] 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.[2]

Blue Note released her trio album, Musical Moments in 2009. Baroque (Verve, 2010), with Onishi leading a much larger group, followed a year later.[2]

Discography

As leader

Year recorded Title Label Notes
1992 Wow Somethin' Else Trio, with Tomoyuki Shima (b), Dairiki Hara (d)
1993 Cruisin' Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Trio, with Rodney Whitaker (b), Billy Higgins (d)
1994 Live at the Village Vanguard Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Trio, with Reginald Veal (b), Herlin Riley (d).
1994 Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol II Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Trio, with Reginald Veal (b), Herlin Riley (d).
1995 Piano Quintet Suite Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Quintet, with Eiichi Hayashi (as), Marcus Belgrave (tp, voc), Rodney Whitaker (b), Tony Rabeson (d)
1996 Play, Piano, Play Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Trio, with Shigeo Aramaki (b), Dairiki Hara (d). In concert
1997 Self Portrait Somethin' Else Compilation
1998 Fragile Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Onishi also plays keyboards. With Reginald Veal (b), Karriem Riggins, Motohiko Hino, Tamaya Honda (d; separately)
2008–9 Musical Moments Somethin' Else
/Blue Note 		Trio, with Yousuke Inoue (b), Gean Jackson (d). Bonus track from 2008 is trio, with Reginald Veal (b), Herlin Riley (d)
2010 Baroque Verve
2016 Tea Times Taboo (Village Records) with Terreon Gully, Yunior Terry, Tokuhiro Doi, Kazuhiro Kondo, Ryoji Ihara, Masakuni Takeno, Kei Suzuki, Eijiro Nakagawa, Nobuhide Handa, Ryota Sasaguri, Koichi Nonoshita, Eric Miyashiro, Koji Nishimura, Masahiko Sugasaka, Atsushi Osawa, Yosuke Miyajima, Naruyoshi Kikuchi, OMSB, JUMA, Saya Yoshida, Ayumu Yahaba
2017 Very Special Taboo (Village Records) with Takayoshi Baba, José James, Miho Hazama, Takuya Mori, Yoshie Sato, Shinnosuke Takahashi, Yousuke Inoue
2017 Glamorous Life SOMETHIN'COOL

As sideman

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

References

  1. ^ Gourse, Leslie (May 23, 1996). Madame Jazz. Oxford University Press. p. 246. ISBN 9780195106473.
  2. ^ a b c Murph, John (November 1, 2010). "Junko Onishi: Time To Reflect". JazzTimes. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
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