Colors

Manami Morita is a pianist from Japan. This is her first album by her own production. It features Zak Croxall on bass, Bob Edinger and Thomas Hartman on drum. Manami Morita was born in Saitama, Japan in 1984. She started off with learning classical piano at the age of 4. Unfortunately, she hated piano lessons because she couldn't stand so much rules in classical piano. On the other hand, she loved playing just as she wanted and felt. At the age of thirteen, she met JAZZ. Well, THIS IS AWESOME, I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!! After learning by her own, she got a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in 2005 and decided to change her life (she used to be thinking to be an English teacher or a flight attendant...which are cool jobs!!). In 2006, she moved to United States and started her career at Berklee in Boston to seach her own music based on jazz. As soon as she got there, her significant musical skills was recognized by school. In 2007, she was awarded Mary Jane Earnhart Endowed Scholarship. Also, in 2008, she was honorably selected as a representative of Jazz Composition Department at Berklee and awarded Herb Pomeroy Award. In 2009, she joined International Kodolanyi Jazz Competition in Hungary with Tenor Saxphone player Mitsuru Hirayama and won 3rd prize. Also, she was awarded Outstanding Performer Award at the same competition. Manami has performed with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Esperanza Spalding, Greg Hopkins, Mark Walker, Rosa Pasos, Oscar Stagnaro and more. Also, she appeared at Martha's Vineyard Music Festival in 2008 with other groups such as Boston Pops, Gladys Knight, Kate Taylor. She has played at famous jazz clubs in Boston such as Sculler's Jazz Club, Ryle's Jazz Club, the Beehive and more and more.