Junko Onishi Trio live at Jazzfest Berlin 2009

Junko Onishi · piano
Ugonna Okegwo · bass
Gene Jackson · drums


recorded live at Jewish Museum Berlin, Glass Courtyard, November 6, 2009

1. So long Eric (Charles Mingus)
2. Number Six (Junko Onishi)
3. Eulogia (Junko Onishi)
4. Portrait in Blue (Junko Onishi)

Born in Kyoto in 1967, Junko Onishi learned to play the piano and soon developed an interest in jazz. After continuing her piano studies for three years at Berklee (Boston), she moved to New York City, where she was taken up enthusiastically by the jazz scene, and where she worked together with Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Kenny Garrett, and the Mingus Dynasty, among others. Junko Onishi has also collaborated with Jackie McLean, Holly Cole, Billy Higgins, and Joe Lovano. She cites Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman among her main influences.
Her most recent CD Musical Moments was released in July of this year a couple of weeks after this year’s festivalprogramme deadline. The album has been celebrated as a comeback for Onishi, whose last CD came out 10 years ago (Fragile, Blue Note 1999). By chance a special “Berlin-tinged” aspect is added to her album and performance which centers around compositions of reedplayer Eric Dolphy who died in Berlin (1964) under tragical circumstances.