Reviews
Multi-Grammy Award Winning Artist
if you are in the mood for something completely original and different then this is the CD for you!
Chie Imaizumi has managed to capture Japanese sensibility, emotion and culture and mix it with creative big band writing,wonderful soloists and the Amercian Jazz tradition. The result is a unique and quite amazingly meeting of two worlds!
Multi-Grammy Award Winning Composer/Conductor
I’m impressed with her. Her music has consistency, is intelligent and resonates with joy. Also, her compositions have a lot of personality. They all have who she is in them. And, these days, that’s a rare quality. They feel really honest and are uncluttered by things meant to impress in a pretentious way. She simply doesn’t try to prove something by moving away from who she is.
Frank Alkyer
DownBeat - Critic's Picks
Chie Imaizumi knows how to pick a band. When you bring in the likes of trumpeters Randy Brecker and Terell Stafford, bassist John Clayton, drummer Jeff Hamilton, saxophonists Steve Wilson and Gary Smulyan, you're on way to something special. Then, add in Imaizumi's compositions and arrangements, and the result becomes slamdunk great.
Jason Plosch
Major, The United States Air Force Band
I believe this performance shattered many stereotypes of not only military musicians but also shattered stereotypes of what a female Japanese jazz composer can do for international relations.
John Clayton
Grammy Award Winning Composer/Conductor/Bassist
I am quite impressed by her exceptional level of musicianship. I have not only listened to her recordings, but I have watched her conduct her compositions, rehearse and record as the leader of a large ensemble. This combination of skills is not something one sees very often and it is a breath of fresh air that I welcome at the high, professional level she embraces. The way she successfully combines her native influences with those found here in the United States is quite unique and unheard of. She impresses the highest caliber musician and audience member alike.
Jeff Hamilton
co-leader of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Jeff Hamilton Trio and Diana Krall
There is an honesty and purity to her writing that touches everyone who hears it. Having recently recorded with her for her new CD, I looked around the studio of "first call" recording musicians and saw amazement and excitement to play music they had never experienced before. This music challenged everyone of these topnotch musicians who have "seen it all" before.
She deserves all good things that happen to her, as she is also one of the dearest people I’ve met.”
Norman Provizer
Rocky Mountain News
If you can depart after hearing a set of Imaizumi's music without joy in your heart and swing in your head,
you need to check yourself for a pulse.
Chris Spector
Midwest Record
Remember when hot, Asian chicks were all playing classical violin? Gone. A secret the Rocky Mountains has been keeping from the rest of us, this moving set will remind you of dozens of sets you won't be able to put your finger on. A winner throughout.
Greg Gisbert
Producer of Chie's debut CD "Unfailing Kindness "
Jazz Trumpeter and Flugelhornist (Buddy Rich, Maria Schneider, Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, Wynton Marsalis)
Chie Imaizumi has inspired me to become a better musicians from the very first time I heard her music! Playing Chie's music is helping me grow into a more honest and expressive artist! Her music ALWAYS grabs my heart!!! It is a dream come true for me to see her audience and musical peers enjoy "Chie's World" as much as I do...
Gary Anderson
Composer for ABC, CBS, CNN News, Larry King's Opening music, the theme from Bart's Favorite TV Program "The Itchy&Scratchy Show"
It worked!
Chie's Unfailing Kindness helped me bring my mood around...
What music - What musicians -
A kindness Indeed...
I recommend unlimited listenings for whatever ails you!!
John Crosse
Musical Director, Paul Anka
I've been listening to Chie's CD repeatedly,
and it is SO IMPRESSIVE!
Wonderful variety of fun, imaginative writing,
superb playing by everyone,
Just a great record.
Eliseo Cardona
El Sentinel/The Sun-Sentinel
Genius is a word used too losely.
But if there's one word to describe Chie's music, that will be.
I simply can't get her music out my head.
It has changed my life.
Bruce Lindsay
All About Jazz
It's a beautifully crafted, beautifully played album, with a warm and familiar feel to its nine tunes that, at times, creates a real sense of nostalgia.
Boston Post Gazette
Professional Guidance
Chie Imaizumi's last name should be spelled A-m-a-z-i-n-g!
Ed Trefzger
Jazz Week
The CD...
is representative of the best current large ensemble recordings.
This album delights with strong performances
and uplifting compositions.
Jeremy Johnson
The Metropolitan
Her style of conduct is part Pilates instructor and part Southern Baptist choir director. With her constant energy and her quasi-nervous stance, Chie is something like Bjork of the modern jazz movement, though there's nothing nervous about the manner or conviction with which she operates.
Yosuke Yamashita
Piano Player
A band that throughly pursues simple pleasures has emerged.
With the idea of sending happiness to her audience,
the Chie Imaizumi Jazz Orchestra is a good example of a modern Big Band group seeking a new way of exsistance in today's world of music.
You can not take your eyes off their future pursuits.
Tiger Okoshi
Trumpet Player, Professor at Berklee College of Music
Chie and her music has the energy of the sun, I feel.
The music that moves us forward with optimism and ambitions.
I love her "Don't worry, be happy, things are not so bad, let's Dance" attitude.
She is right. As the sun finds you and keeps you warm,
Chie's music will find you and come to you with smiles...
Bud Kopman
All About Jazz
Imaizumi's music exudes both optism and overcoming difficult times, but mostly the joy of creating and being able to share it.
Greg Caroll
CEO of the American Jazz Museum
Wow! Wow! What a great sense!
Wow! What a great sense of sound!