Toshiko Akiyoshi

Composer and pianist who has made many records, she was educated at the Music Academy of Dairen and the Berklee School of Music (the latter on scholarship). She studied with Margaret Chaloff. She was piano soloist with the Japan Philharmonic, and a pianist in dance bands from 1948, forming the Toshiko-Mariano Quartet with her husband Charles Mariano. Her compositions include "A Jazz Suite for Strings, Woodwinds" (which received the Mademoiselle Award); "My Elegy"; and "Silhouette". Her popular songs include "Long Yellow Road" and "Between Me and Myself".