Kyoko Kitamura is a vocal improviser and composer residing in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Background

Kitamura is a Japanese-American musician born in

and raised partially in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. She studied piano at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

pre-college division but later chose to become a TV reporter with

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

, a national network in Japan and was based in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for many years as their French news correspondent. After quitting her job, she moved back to NYC in 1997, worked as a freelance magazine writer for a few years before getting back into music after a hiatus of close to 15 years. Unusual for a vocalist, she honed craft as a sideperson-vocalist with NYC musicians such as bassists

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey, in addition to Alice Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Tri ...

and William Parker, saxophonist

Steve Coleman Steve Coleman (born September 20, 1956) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music theorist. In 2014, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Early life Steve Coleman was born and grew up in South Side, Chicago. He started playing ...

, cornet player

Taylor Ho Bynum Taylor Ho Bynum (born 1975) is a musician, composer, educator and writer. His main instrument is the cornet, but he also plays numerous similar instruments, including flugelhorn and trumpet. Early life Bynum was born in BaltimoreWilmoth, Charli" ...

, among others. Since 2010, she has been working with saxophonist and composer

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...

as one of his vocalists and as the director of communication for his organization, th
Tri-Centric Foundation
Mostly recently, she appears on these Anthony Braxton albums: ''Trillium J'', ''12 Duets (DCWM) 2012'', ''Trillium E'', and his Syntactical Ghost Trance Choir live performance release (all fro
New Braxton House Records
. In 2023, she created the mini-documentar
Introduction to Syntactical Ghost Trance Music
which DownBeat Magazine calls “an invaluable resource for Braxton-philes.”

Discography

In 2018, she released her second leader album ''Protean Labyrinth'' (self-release on Bandcamp, 2018) featuring

Ingrid Laubrock Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildha ...

, Ken Filiano and Dayeon Seok. She is also the co-leader of a series of albums, released by

Relative Pitch Records Relative Pitch Records is an American independent record label specializing in free jazz and avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, and experimental music. Run by Kevin Reilly, Relative Pitch has been ranked among the top jazz record labels in ''T ...

, on which she collaborated with cellist

Tomeka Reid Tomeka Reid (born 1977) is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher. Reid has performed and recorded with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Nicole Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble, Mike Reed's L ...

, trumpeter

, and guitarist Joe Morris: '' Geometry of Caves'' (2016

018 018 may refer to: *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboj ...

, '' Geometry of Distance'' (2018

019 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

and ''Geometry of Trees'' (2021

022 022 may refer to: * Leduc 022, a French prototype aircraft * Tyrrell 022 The Tyrrell 022 was the car with which the Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell team competed in the 1994 Formula One World Championship. The car was powered by the Yamaha Motor Compan ...

. Her discography as a sideperson includes

's ''Trillium J'' (New Braxton House 2016),''Trillium E'' (New Braxton House 2011) and ''12 Duets (DCWM) 2012'' (New Braxton House 2014), William Parker's ''Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World'', Cory Smythe's ''Accelerate Every Voice'' and Taylor Ho Bynum's ''Madeleine Dreams'' (Firehouse 12 Records 2009) among others.

Have performed and/or recorded with

Laura Andel Orchestra, Matthew Barney,

, Taylor Ho Bynum, Steve Coleman, Yayoi Ikawa,

Mark Lamb Mark William Lamb (born August 3, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, and current general manager and head coach of the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Lamb was previously the head coach of the Tu ...

Art Lande Art Lande is an American musician who was born in New York City, United States, on 5 February 1947. Born in New York, Lande began piano at age 4. He attended Williams College and moved to San Francisco in 1969. In 1973 he recorded '' Red Lanta,' ...

, Russ Lossing, William Parker, Jim Staley, Reggie Workman, and others.

References

External links

Kyoko Kitamura
at

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitamura, Kyoko 21st-century American women musicians American musicians of Japanese descent American women musicians of Japanese descent Composers from New York City Composers from Tokyo Living people Year of birth missing (living people)