English Translation:
Songs of Joy / Ubuntu Music
When Billy Preston composed Songs of Joy, he certainly must have had very different reasons from those that suggested to Yoko Miwa the idea of titling and introducing her new work with that song. A praise, therefore, to the frank optimism that the Japanese pianist of origin and American by adoption has been able to oppose these dark days and another to the irony that she let leak out by presenting her return to the limelight as "the first album that have ever recorded with a mask on his face ... " Again and only praise are those that must be paid to the brilliance, dynamism and eclecticism that distinguish this other work at the head of the now more than tested trio formed with Scott Goulding on drums and Brad Barrett on bass, a program composed for half from original themes and the remaining 50% from covers which, at least in the cases of the eponymous song, Freedom (Richie Havens) and Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Led Zeppelin!), do not appear among the most popular scores for musicians jazz. On the other hand, if Miwa can count on a mentor as authoritative as Ahmad Jamal, her qualities as a composer as well as those of an interpreter could only be out of question. Songs Of Joy summarizes them beautifully and Yoko Miwa confirms her as ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED PIANISTS OF HER GENERATION. Elio Bussolino