BIOGRAPHY

小1から中学3年まで小澤征爾らを輩出した、桐朋音楽大学付属の音楽教室で英才教育を受けるも音大に進まず。世界情勢に興味を持ち、上智大学国際関係法学科に入学。
国際会議で出会った紛争地の人々の奏でる音楽に突き動かされ音楽の力を再認識する。その直後、大学の図書館で見つけた即興音楽を使った音楽療法セッションの50年以上前の音源テープに衝撃を受け、音楽療法を学ぶことを即決。
大学卒業後’01年、9/11の一週間前にNYに渡り、ニューヨーク大学大学院で音楽療法を学ぶ。’05年に一時帰国。’08年に再渡米。本格的な創作、演奏活動を始めたのは、NY生活計10年を経た2012年頃から。音楽療法士として働きながら、ハーレムに居を構え、ジャズMobileでジャズピアノを学び、ヘクター・マティニョンに師事。
Kotoeのオリジナル曲の原点は、自身が音楽に突き動かされたり、国や人種、障がいを超えて様々な人々と音楽療法を通じてかかわったり、NYという「音楽のるつぼ」で多様なスタイルに触れてきた経験全てである。
デビューに至るまで、自身のバンドでトップミュージシャンたちとNYの “DROM” や“Somethin’ Jazz”などで単独ライブを重ねてきた。
デビューアルバム＜Kotoe＞は、心の情景を書き溜めてきたオリジナル曲と選りすぐったスタンダード曲からなるKotoeの音楽の軌跡である。

Vibrant singer, pianist and bandleader Kotoe Suzuki imagines bright, lively jazz music with a Brazilian and Latin twist that tells effervescent tales about women’s experiences. Her attention to detail shines through intricate and warm original compositions that sway with love, longing, heartbreak and the bittersweet delight of life’s great adventures. A skilled soloist and ensemble player faithful to both classical and jazz traditions, she presents fresh, honest arrangements of familiar tunes and her own playful works that show her impeccable, engaging improvisational skills, flair for intertwining melody, harmony and rhythm and passion for sharing beauty and truth through music. Her mesmerizing, intimate live performances invite audiences into her inner world, radiating with warmth, delicate vulnerability and joy.

Suzuki was born in Tokyo and was raised within a household that embraced the powerful exquisiteness of music. A shy, sensitive and curious child, she began studying classical piano at the age of three, she explored the instrument’s many sounds and textures while also experimenting with the flute and her own voice. She was already composing sophisticated piano pieces based on Japanese folk tales and the stories of her own life at a young age in order to express the feelings and melodies within. She drew further inspiration from her father, a music club owner, her grandfather, a big band/jazz trumpeter and her mother, a classical singer and piano teacher who took her to see vocal dynamos such as Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.

In 2001, Suzuki decided to move to New York City to study Music Therapy at NYU’s graduate program. As a music therapist, she was exposed to people from diverse cultural backgrounds and expanded her love of music far beyond the classical realm, gravitating towards jazz, salsa, samba, Afro-Cuban music and the Blues. It was within the thrilling freedom of these styles that she discovered her own voice as an artist, and she began to incorporate new elements into her own work.

She has studied jazz privately with Dan Kaufman, Renato Diz, and Afro-Brazilian/Latin jazz with two-time Grammy nominee, Hector Martignon. She has also studied voice with Christina Correa and Maria Quintanilla.In New York City. Suzuki has performed solo and with her quartet/quintet in several venues in NYC, such as Symphony space, DROM, Greenwich hall, and Nuyorican poetry café.

After almost a decade spent in New York City, Suzuki will return to Japan in February 2017 to continue her musical journey. Her self-titled debut album, “KOTOE,” is now available through online stores worldwide. The CD was recorded at Tedesco Studio in New York City and is a tribute to her experience in the city and its contribution to her artistic evolution. The album also features the talents of world-class musicians including Mino Cinelu, Samuel Torres, Hector Martignon, and many others.