Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble
New York, NY, USA
“Yuki”
Meg Okura - erhu, violin, composer
Yukari - flute
Megumi Yonezawa - piano
Jennifer Vincent - cello
Satoshi Takeishi - percussion

Led by Japanese composer and virtuoso violinist Meg Okura, this New York based jazz group explores areas of jazz, world music, and chamber music, while embracing the traditional sounds from Japan and surrounding countries.
Graduate of the Juilliard School, Okura has a unique and distinguishable sound, blending Pan-Asian tonalities into her masterful compositions, incorporating vivacious rhythms of Afro-Cuban and Latin rhythms as well as Middle-Eastern influenced odd-meter phrasings. Her unique style of composition and improvisation has been cultivated through her richly diverse experiences as a concert violinist and an improviser, which lead her to work with various artists including Mary J. Blige, David Bowie, Michael Brecker, Sarah Brightman, Circue du Soleil, Coheed and Cambria, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Ziggy Marley, Lee Konitz, Lou Reed, Alexander Schneider, Steve Swallow , and Kanye West. She has won numerous national and international competitions both as a violinist and composer.