Kimiko Itoh

Kimiko Ito (Japanese伊藤 君子, Kimiko Ito, also: Kimiko Itoh, born July 11, 1946 Shodoshima, Kagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese jazz singer.

Life and work

Kimiko Ito initially studied painting at the Art School Musashino, then at Yasushi Sawada. She began her career as a singer in the 1980s and worked among others with Terumasa Hino and Makoto Ozone. She worked in both New York and Tokyo and entered 1997 in a duo with Makoto Ozone at the Montreux Jazz Festival; the recording was released as an album. The Japanese Swing Journal she drew 2000 as best female singer from Japan. Itō came in 2012 with Aki Takase and Nobuyoshi Ino on the Paris exhibition Jazz en Japon.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Birdland ( Teichiku, 1982)
• Songs For You ( Teichiku, 1983)
• The Way We Were ( Teichiku, 1983)
• A Touch of Love ( Epic Sony, 1986)
• For Lovers Only ( Epic Sony, 1986)
• Follow Me ( Epic Sony, 1988), with Warren Bernhardt, Richard Tee, Eddie Gomez, Charles McCracken
• A Jazzy Wonderland ( Columbia, 1990)
• A Natural Woman ( Epic Sony, 1990)
• The Best of Kimiko Itoh ( Epic Sony, 1991)
• Here I Am (Video Arts Music, 1992)
• Standards My Way (Video Arts Music, 1993)
• An Evening With Kimiko Itoh (Video Arts Music, 1994)
• Sophisticated Lady (Video Arts Music, 1995), with Eddie Gomez, Steve Gadd, John Tropea, Michael Brecker
• Kimiko (Video Arts Music, 2000)
• Once You've Been In Love (Video Arts Music, 2004)
• Best of Best: Selected by Kiyoshi Itoh (Video Arts Music, 2007)
• Jazzdaga? Jazzdaja! (Video Arts Music, 2009), with Kappei Ina (vocals )
• MakkanaOhirune (まっか な お ひるね) with Aki Takase ( piano ), Nobuyoshi Ino ( bass)

Follow Me, a cover of the second movement of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, was released in 2004 on the occasion of its use as the main theme of Mamoru Oshii's film Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence in a maxi-single version at VideoArt Music, the Place 63 Japanese Single -Charts and remained there for 7 weeks.