Mai Sugimoto Trio
saturday, september 28
TIME: 2:45pm-3:45pm
VENUE: Smart Museum. 5550 South Greenwood Ave.
Mai Sugimoto standing sideways playing the saxophone outside. She is wearing dark short-sleeve sweater and a patterned skirt. She is wearing long earrings. There is a drum set in the background.
Photo credit: Ricardo Adame.
Mai Sugimoto
Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and active member of Chicago's jazz and creative music scene. Born/Raised, her debut album (Asian Improv Records, 2018), explores this cultural and musical binary, juxtaposing, among other things, a jazz rendition of a Japanese children's song alongside 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. Sugimoto has performed four times at the Chicago Jazz Festival: in 2015 with Hanami, in 2019 and 2022 as a leader, and in 2018 with renowned bassist Tatsu Aoki, with whom she frequently plays, including as part of his Fred Anderson Legacy Band. Her first solo album, monologue (Asian Improv Records), was released in March of 2021. Sugimoto also appears on the Natural Information Society’s album, Since Time Is Gravity (Eremite, 2023). Her most recent release, Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves (Asian Improv Records, 2024), features Joshua Abrams on bass and Isaiah Spencer on drums.
The musicians:
Mai Sugimoto — alto saxophone/flute
Joshua Abrams — bass
Isaiah Spencer — drums