Tomoko Omura Bio (www.tomokoomuramusic.com): Tomoko Omura is a composer and violinist. She was named #1 Rising Star Violinist by Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll in 2021. Her latest album, “Branches Vol. 2” (Outside In Music, 2021) was named Bandcamp’s “Best Jazz of 2021”. She has played at internationally renowned venues including the Village Vanguard, th Jazz Gallery, Jazz Standard, Lincoln Center Appel Room, Smalls, Mezzrow, SF Jazz Miner Auditorium, National Sawdust, Newport Jazz Festival, Blue Note, among others. She has also performed and recorded with many of today’s leading artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Fabian Almazan, Linda Oh, Camila Meza, Aubrey Johnson, Vadim Neselovsky, David Broza, David Amram, and more.
Her music has been featured on major international publications including Strings magazine, GRAMMY.com, WBGO’s “Jazz United” & “The Pulse”, Bandcamp Daily, Jazz Sessions, Jazz Times, Downbeat, AllAboutJazz, and more. Her fourth album “Branches Vol. 1” (Outside In Music, 2020) was also chosen for Bandcamp’s Best Jazz August 2020, among other critical acclaim. Jazz Times also premiered the music video of “Revenge Of The Rabbit” from this album. Her 3rd release, “Post Bop Gypsies” (Inner Circle, 2017), is a contemporary jazz trio album in the classic Gypsy jazz instrumentation of violin, guitar and bass. “Roots”, her second album, and first for Inner Circle Music, is a compelling tribute to her native Japan, featuring original arrangements of ten classic Japanese folk and popular songs. Downbeat awarded “Roots” four and half stars, naming Omura “a leader with a fine future”. From 2015-2020, she was also named a “Rising Star” in Downbeat magazine's Critic's Poll.
In earlier years, she was a full time member of the world folk group, The Guy Mendilow Ensemble, as well as the contemporary Celtic ensemble, Runa, and toured around the US as a folk musician. She was also a member of the vintage jazz band Carte Blanche.
Born and raised in Shizuoka, Japan, Omura began playing the violin at a young age under her mother’s instruction, and later began self-studying jazz while attending Yokohama National University. In 2004, she relocated to the United States when she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. While at Berklee, she worked with such legendary musicians as George Garzone, Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi, Jamey Haddad, Matt Glaser and Rob Thomas. Also at Berklee, she was the first violinist to receive the school’s prestigious Roy Haynes Award.
Glenn Zaleski bio (www.glennzaleski.com):
Glenn Zaleski is one of the most in-demand pianists on the New York City jazz scene. Originally from Boylston, MA, Glenn has made a name for himself playing with the likes of Ravi Coltrane, Cécile McLorin Salvant, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Yotam Silberstein, Ken Peplowski, Lage Lund, Ari Hoenig, and many more. His latest album is “Solo Vol. 2”, a solo album of standards recorded during the pandemic, and the second from his own label Stark Terrace Music.
His previous release, “The Question”, from July 2020, was released on Sunnyside Records, and features his quintet. From this album, his original “BK Bossa Nova” has nearly two million plays on Apple Music.
"Live at Jazz Standard" (Capri 2019), features his long-standing co-led trio, Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato, in a live set the legendary NYC club.
One year prior, "Solo Vol. 1", was released in early 2018 - his first solo piano album, as well as the first release from his own label Stark Terrace Music. In 2017 he released his second album for Sunnyside Records, "Fellowship", prompting All About Jazz to note, "Glenn Zaleski has quickly become one of the most important pianists of his generation and it's easy to see why." His debut album, "My Ideal", was released in March of 2015, also on Sunnyside, and received critical acclaim: Downbeat Magazine named it "sublime", Jazz Times called it, "an engaging set by a talent worth watching," and the New York Times named the record a "strong statement," praising its "fluent but unhurried sense of phrase".
Glenn has also released two popular albums with the collective Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato: "Limitless" (Capri, 2013), and "Anticipation" (Capri, 2011), as well as a duo record with his brother, saxophonist Mark Zaleski. ("Duet Suite", 2010)
In 2011, Glenn was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, as well as a finalist for the 2011 APA Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz. He attended the Brubeck Institute Fellowship program in Stockton, CA from 2005-2007, and then finished his undergraduate studies at The New School in 2009. From 2009-2011, while working towards his graduate degree at NYU, Glenn was also on NYU faculty, teaching a variety of classes and private students.