Toshiko Akiyoshi's Jazz Orchestra is one of the most innovative big bands in jazz -- not just in Japanese jazz, but worldwide. Her work has received both critical praise and consistent popularity over the course of 50 years of live performances and some 40 recordings.
Haved taught herself jazz piano from records and honed her technique in the servicemen's clubs after World War II, she was noticed by Oscar Peterson during a Japan tour and given the chance to record a debut release in 1953.
Not long after that, Akiyoshi was offered the opportunity to move to the United States and play with the musicians she had only heard on record. After a decade of hard-driving bop quartets and quintets in New York, she eventually formed her own big band, with husband and saxophone player Lew Tabackin. For three decades, this big band, going under slightly different names, helped redefine the big-band sound for a new era. At the same time, she kept up her powerful piano playing, nicely captured on 1994's solo recording "Live at Maybeck Hall.''