Junko Onishi

BIO

Junko Onishi is one of the undeniable leaders of the Japanese jazz scene.

She graduated from Berklee College of Music and began her professional career performing with top artists such as Betty Carter, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean as well as Mingus Big Band. Her recording debut “WOW” released in 1993 won the Japanese Jazz category of Swing Journal’s annual Jazz Disc Awards.

In 1994, She released her second album “Cruising” from Blue Note Records in the United States, and she became the first Japanese artist to perform a weeklong stint at the famed Village Vanguard in New York City.
In 2013, she performed as a soloist with the “Saito Kinen Orchestra” led by Seiji Ozawa, and in 2019, following her trio performance with Robert Hurst and Karriem Riggins at Blue Note Tokyo, she released a her live album ”Jatroit” featuring the two musicians.

In 2021, she also participated in the “All-Star Global Concert” hosted by Herbie Hancock with UNESCO, and she released her latest album “Grand Voyage” as the “Junko Onishi Quartet” that same year. She has also been working alongside world-renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami as the music director of his “Murakami Jam” projects, with its third chapter held in Tokyo in June 2024 featuring Mike Stern, John Patitucci, Eric Harland, Kirk Whalum and Takuya Kuroda.