Toshiko Akiyoshi once wrote a song whose title played off an old
joke: “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?” The traditional answer to that
oft-asked question is “Practice.” But for Akiyoshi, the 81-year-old
pianist-composer-arranger, a better answer might be “Pioneering.”
When Akiyoshi first recorded for a Western audience, more than a
half-century ago, female instrumentalists were still a tiny minority on
the jazz scene, and Asian women playing jazz were virtually
non-existent. But Akiyoshi could think of no reason not to
follow her dream and, in fact, it wasn’t until she came to America—10
years after playing professionally in Japan—that she encountered
skeptics who viewed her as a novelty, not a serious artist.
“We have a saying in Japan,” Akiyoshi says, “that a nail that sticks
out will be beaten. After I came to this country and people started
noticing my work, there were some diehard music critics who questioned
my authenticity. I had a stigma attached to me, but there was nothing I
could do about it. Lew [Tabackin, her husband and musical collaborator
for more than four decades] always says that I’ve been challenged by my
heritage.”
Inspired initially by such greats as Bud Powell and Duke Ellington,
Akiyoshi—the first Japanese student to enroll at the prestigious Berklee
College of Music in Boston—eventually overcame those early biases and
has since become recognized as a major figure in jazz. Among her many
honors, Akiyoshi was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2007, has won DownBeat
magazine’s critics’ poll numerous times in several categories, and has
been nominated for more than a dozen Grammys.
For most of her career, Akiyoshi has worked with large ensembles, but
several years ago she decided to trim down the scope of her groups in
order to refocus on her piano playing. At her Zankel Hall concert,
Akiyoshi performs solo and in trio and quartet formats, accompanied by
Tabackin on tenor saxophone and flute, Paul Gill on bass, and Mark
Taylor on drums.
“Playing the piano was always my first love, and it still is,”
Akiyoshi says as she looks forward to returning to Carnegie Hall, where
she and Tabackin recorded a Grammy-nominated live album with their Jazz
Orchestra nearly two decades ago. “To be able to play there means a lot
to me,” she says. “It’s a very special place.”