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Born on October 3, 1956 in Philadelphia, a city that has few rivals in terms of its rich music history — jazz, gospel, punk, R&B, The Philly Soul Sound — Tonooka experienced unfettered freedom at the piano as a young child. She started piano and music instruction at the age of seven at the Settlement Music School in Philly with Ester Cinberg and then Gary Goldschneider. Tonooka, who grew up in a multicultural household, was introduced to the extramundane concepts and executions of pianist Thelonious Monk at the age of 13. “My parents took me to see Thelonious Monk ‘live’ at the Aqua Lounge for my thirteenth birthday and it was then and there … that’s when I decided to be a jazz musician.” He, along with pianist/composer Duke Ellington and close associate and admirer pianist Kenny Barron, have been her torches in the night as she’s glanced through and past many ideologies and perceptions of performance and tunesmithing. Tonooka continued classical lessons with Madame Margaret Chaloff of the New England Conservatory of Music as well as jazz and composition with the renowned jazz instructor, Charlie Banacus in Boston Mass. In years to come, she would study with Bernard Peiffer, Susan Starr, Mary Lou Williams, Dennis Sandole, and Stanley Cowell. At eighteen, she tells of her “real initiation into the world of jazz” performing with drummer Philly Joe Jones’ quartet, Le Grand Prix. In connecting the dots in her journeys from Philly to Boston, from Boston to Detroit, back to Philly and then onto New York, Tonooka weathered droughts and occasional cloudbursts of opportunity when she gigged with Kenny Burrell, Little Jimmy Scott, Sonny Fortune, Red Rodney, Benny Golson, and David “Fathead” Newman. During this time, before her move to New York City, she received her Bachelor of Music degree from Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. Her debut release as a leader, With An Open Heart (1986, Radiant Records), was the beginning of a long friendship with bassist Rufus Reid. Taking Time (1991, Candid), Here Comes Kai (1992, Candid), and Secret Places (produced by pianist Kenny Barron in 1989 and released in 1998 on his label, Joken) are ripe with her now familiar agile melodies, darting and daring rhythmic maneuvers, and interplay with her bandmates. A telling tale of Tonooka’s singular and unwithering disposition is the fact that she took chances early in her leadership and recorded her own material. To date, she’s penned almost fifty compositions. Long Ago Today is Tonooka’s first recording as a leader in a decade. The resurgence of her creative grace and candor is felt in Cole Porter’s “All of You,” a familiar favorite “that keeps on evolving,” says Tonooka. She, Reid and Braye becomes a wild force of nature on “The Clinging,” a tune inspired by the I Ching, considered an oracle of natural events and occurrences. The creation of the iridescent “Dreaming of Tibet” was guided by a vision Tonooka had of herself walking about the country called “the roof of the world.” This tune is an invitation to see what she saw. The contrasting faces of “Be The Dance”, a sketchpad of the trio’s playful prowess and the title tune, a musing over “longing and nostalgia,” speak of the many-sided approaches Tonooka takes to, as one journalist notes, bridge “between the spirit of the world and her own soul.” What propels her playing, as noted by writer Herb Boyd, is her “unique way to constantly renew the rhythm.” Representative of that is “Moroccan Daze,” packed with flurried mechanized and free-flowing passages. Though we hear a focus of rhythm on Long Ago Today, in no way does this enervate her compositions. They’re identifiers for Tonooka and take their place between your ears, plugging you into her and not into her re-soling of standards. “It’s my strongest work,” declares Tonooka. Though a celebratory air of accomplishment wafts about Tonooka with the nationwide release of Long Ago Today, it is not fully shared —on this earth — with drummer Braye, who passed away in February 2007. “I am grateful and honored that Bob’s musicianship and mastery was documented on this recording.” Her steady on the bull fiddle has been Reid, her friend and colleague of over twenty-five years. He’s a much-in-demand clinician as well as session player. His extensive jazz background and discography reads like a Who's Who in jazz. From 1990 to 2001, Rufus co-led TanaReid with percussionist Akira Tana and released five CDs during their tenure. As a member of The Rufus Reid Quintet, Tonooka appears on the CD and DVD The Rufus Reid Quintet: Live at the Kennedy Center (Motema). The group appeared at Dizzy's Club Cocoa Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York in 2007 for the CD release performance. She has enjoyed a simpatico relationship with jazz violinist John Blake and his quartet for some twenty years. Their recorded output includes A New Beginning: Live at The Village Gate, Kindred Spirits (as a duo), and most recently The Traveler featuring Boris Koslov on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums. She has added to her talents scoring music for film. She’s composed over a dozen film scores, some of which have recently been aired on PBS, such as the Academy Award–nominated Family Gathering by Lise Yasui and Daring To Resist by Martha Lubell. Tonooka’s career has been chronicled in several highly regarded jazz books, including Living The Jazz Life by Royal Stokes, ln The Moment by Francis Davis, and Madamme Jazz by Leslie Gourse (all on Oxford University Press). She is currently teaching piano at both Bard College and Dutchess Community College in The Hudson Valley of New York. Initiation, featuring saxophonist Erica Lindsay, Reid, and Braye is scheduled for release nationwide on October 15th, 2008. |
n his liner notes to pianist, composer and educator Sumi Tonooka’s fifth and latest CD, Long Ago Today, journalist Russ Musto restates his praise from thirty years ago: “…it has been a pleasure to hear her blossom into one of the most talented musicians of her generation.” Today, Tonooka (pronounced To-NO-ka) reignites her successes as an architect at the keyboard with Long Ago Today (Artists Recording Collective), set for nationwide release on March 25, 2008. She’s joined by bassist Rufus Reid (who has appeared on all of her releases) and the late drummer Bob Braye. Nine of the ten tunes are penned by her.
