山本玲子 on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory

Sumireiko: Decision

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Decision is a 2020 album from the duo of vibraphonist Reiko Yamamoto and pianist Sumire Kuribayashi. This is their second album together as the duo “sumireiko” and follows their 2013 debut release Blue Bird. The two musicians have been playing together for fifteen years since meeting and forming their group, and in that time have developed a deep friendship that permeates their music with this intuitive emotional bond. In fact, the name sumireiko was made by overlapping their first names, Sumire and Reiko, to create the name of their musical identity. Their first names, Sumire and Reiko, are even combined and overlapped to form their musical identity “sumireiko” (すみれ + れいこ = すみれいこ), another indication of their close musical affinity built on trust and friendship.

Magnolia: El viento y las flores

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Magnolia is a trio made up of vibraphone, piano, and percussion, and their debut album, El viento y las flores was released in 2022. This fifty-six-minute album contains ten tracks of all original compositions, four from vibraphonist Reiko Yamamoto and three each from pianist Yuka Yanagihara and percussionist Hitomi Aikawa. Despite having three independent composers, their tight interplay and musical personalities seem tightly bound together, as if their collective music just blooms out intuitively unified.

Reiko Yamamoto: The Square Pyramid

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Reiko Yamamoto’s The Square Pyramid is a jazz record built around her vivid and precise vibraphone sound. With excitement heightened by the targeted force and agility of four mallets striking and bouncing on the metal bars, the crystal clear and warmly sustained sounds of Yamamoto’s instrument pull the listener into the heart of the colorful structure through her compelling compositions.

Written in Japanese, Reiko Yamamoto’s name is 山本玲子. Reiko (玲子) contains the kanji character 玲 which represents the sound of jewels and is used in several aural words invoking tinkling and chiming sounds. Whether or not that character had a direct influence on the musician’s life, it’s an appropriately fitting context for her masterful playing of this brilliantly translucent instrument.