MEG OKURA, musical director & composer
THE EAR MAGAZINE
"achingly beautiful"
(on LINGERING)
Jim McNeely
composer/pianist
"...the premiere violinist, jazz or otherwise, of our time."
(on LINGERING)
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“grandiloquent beauty that transitions easily from grooves to big cascades to buoyant swing.”
​
(on IMA IMA)
The 5th and the Next Album
was fully funded, and has already helped Meg receive many more honors...
05 Awards
Press Coverage
ISJAC, BRIO, Asian Cultural Council,
the 2023 IAWM Search for New Music, Wi-Hi Jazz Composition Competition - Meg has received five honors, submitting some of the tracks from this forthcoming album. The ISJAC Fundamental Freedoms Commissioning Prize just awarded the world-premiere and the prize at the ISJAC Symposium on May 18, 2024, while Asian Cultural Council will send Meg to Vietnam in 2026! Wa-Hi Jazz will feature Meg's new commission at the Wa-Hi Jazz Festival in November!
STRINGS, DOWNBEAT magazines,
WBGO and several other outlets will be featuring Meg in the coming months. Stay tuned!
04 Grants
CMA New Jazz Works, Jazz Road, etc.
The recording of this album was in part supported by CMA New Jazz Works grant, Jazz Road Creative Residency Award, and NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theater. The creation of the compositions were supported by the CMA New Jazz Works and Copland House Residency Award.
Performances
Wa-hi Jazz Festival, Winter JazzFest, and
2025 Winter Jazz Fest
2024 Wa-hi Jazz Festival
​
and more
THE DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE ON "JUKEBOX JURY" AT JAZZ CONGRESS
"....the returning popular needle-drop forum 'Jukebox Jury' to the Varis Leichtman Recording Studio. The panel comprises jazz radio professionals participating in a kind of blindfold test, with snippets of music being played and each panelist saying whether they would include that in their music sets. (There were some differences of opinion, of course, but a surprising bit of unanimity on the final selection, a forthcoming track from Meg Okura and the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble.)"
THE PAN ASIAN CHAMBER JAZZ ENSEMBLE
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Meg Okura (composition, violin, and erhu on track 2)
Anne Drummond (flute)
Sam Sadigursky (clarinet, bass clarinet)
David Smith (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Becca Patterson (trombone)
John Lee (guitars)
Riza Printup (harp)
Brian Marsella (piano)
Evan Gregor (bass)
Peter Kronreif (drums)
​
Special Guests:
Randy Brecker (tracks 6-9)
Sam Newsome (tracks 2, 6-9)
Remy Le Boeuf (tracks 3 & 10)
Rogerio Boccato (tracks 6 & 9)
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