Hyde Park Jazz Festival

MAI SUGIMOTO TRIO

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. | TIME: 2:30 – 3:15 PM

VENUE: AUGUSTANA CHURCH. 5500 S. WOODLAWN AVE.

MAI SUGIMOTO

Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, and active member of Chicago’s jazz and improvisational music scene. “A compelling performer” with “dry-champagne tone and lyrical lines” (Chicago Tribune), Sugimoto draws inspiration from her upbringing in Japan and her roots in jazz to compose and perform from her unique multicultural experience. “Born/Raised,” her 2018 debut album, explores this cultural and musical binary – juxtaposing, among other things, a jazz rendition of a Japanese children’s song with compositions inspired by the American jazz idiom.

Sugimoto is also a core member of the quartet Hanami, whose two albums similarly mix Japanese culture into creative music. She has performed three times at the Chicago Jazz Festival: in 2015 with Hanami, in 2019 as a leader, and in 2018 with renowned bassist Tatsu Aoki, with whom she frequently plays, including appearances in his Fred Anderson Legacy Band. Her first solo album, “monologue” (Asian Improv Records) was released in March of 2021.

The musicians: 

Mai Sugimoto – Saxophone

Tatsu Aoki – Bass

Isaiah Spencer – Drums