Makiko Hirabayashi Trio

Makiko Hirabayashi (p)
Klavs Hovman (b)
Marilyn Mazur (ds/perc/voc)

Since the release of their first album ”Makiko” (Enja 2006), this trio has received wide critical acclaim as a unique voice on the international jazz scene. Makiko Hirabayashi Trio is known for their vibrant interplay and strong compositions with a great storytelling quality. They have released 4 studio albums to date, and won prizes in Japan for both composition and sound for the second album – Hide And Seek.
Over the last 15 years, the trio has toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia. Their music reflects Makiko’s multicultural background, where elements of jazz, classical music, Far Eastern sounds and Nordic moods are all incorporated into an original and engaging idiom of her own.

Weavers

Fredrik Lundin (ten/sop sax)
Makiko Hirabayashi (p)
Thommy Andersson (b)
Bjørn Heebøll (d/perc)

Weavers is a quartet with a distinctive sound, based in Copenhagen. Their debut album “Weavers” won the prestigious award, Jazz Album Of the Year at Danish Music Awards 2021. Led by the Japanese pianist Makiko Hirabayashi, the group features some of the strongest voices on the Scandinavian music scene – the explosive saxophonist Fredrik Lundin, bassist Thommy Andersson with his rich, Swedish sound and the inventive drummer, Bjørn Heebøll. With the collective, creative force at its core, their music is genre-transcending, imaginative and moving.

Bespeak

Randi Potoppidan (voc impro/electronics)
Anders Børup (voc impro/electronics)
Soma Allpass (cello)
Makiko Hirabayashi (p)
Dalia Faitelson (gtr/perc)

BESPEAK is a collective of 5 musicians on a musical adventure, seeking new sounds and textures on both acoustic and electronic instruments. Their music is largely improvised, and has a wide range of perspectives, from looking at the smallest details in sounds, to reaching out into endless space. Together they create intriguing soundscapes and musical stories, using instruments in unexpected ways, and through electronic effects.

 

Makiko Hirabayashi/Bob Rockwell Duo

Bob Rockwell (ten/sop sax)
Makiko Hirabayashi (p)

This duo collaboration started in 2011, at a charity concert for the Fukushima tsunami victims. The music reflects the actual event and the years that followed, and has kept both its fragile and explosive elements. Unbound by stylistic limitations, Bob’s melodic lines and Makiko’s colourful textures interact freely. In March 2016, they released a full album with ten of Makiko’s compositions and one jazz standard.