"The last two years marked pianist/composer/bandleader Eri Yamamoto's rise into the consciousness of astute jazz listeners outside of NYC. Her essential appearance on William Parker's eternal Corn Meal Dance was followed by a pair of her own luminous and critically acclaimed albums, Duologue and Redwoods.

Yamamoto has an amazing gift for fresh and melodically indelible compositions. This new studio album of her all-new, all-original pieces are, as part of her recent 3-album string, nigh unmatched by her pianistic (or otherwise) peers in music. Once again these new compositions are all brought to life with ebullience and deep sensitivity by her long-running Trio partners, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Ikuo Takeuchi.

Half of these pieces were composed as a new soundtrack suite to the 1932 silent film, 'I Was Born, But...', by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, one of the most important filmmakers in cinema history. The film deals with the unchanging human situation that we don't choose which family we're born into, and the problems that come with this. While Ozu's film is serious and sometimes heartbreaking, it also has lightness and humor; Yamamoto's compositions accentuate this emotional complexity. The other five pieces, equally compelling and far ranging in mood, were composed through capturing Eri's experiences living in NYC and her touring around the world over the last two years.

When she is not busy touring the world with her own group and/or with William Parker, the Eri Yamamoto Trio performs every Thursday/Friday/Saturday at Arthur's Tavern, a/n historic jazz club in New York's Greenwich Village. If you're in town, mark it & make it a point to stop in."-SJ, Aum Fidelity