Hiroko Kanna

Music has always been an important part of Hiroko Kanna's life. In Japan, when she was 15, she encountered Brazilian music. She loved the records of Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz, and Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66. Soon after that, she was introduced to Jazz.

After relocating to New York, she started to study jazz vocals at “Sounds Of Joy”, “Jazzmobile” and "The Barry Harris Workshop". She studied jazz theory, improvisation, vocal technique, performance technique, scat singing and piano. She also studied voice and coaching privately with Norman Simmons, Inez Jackson, Tom Whitney, Grace Testani, Norma Garbo, Elina Vasiltchikova, Andrea Green, and Selena Miyazaki. She studied jazz piano with Ken-ichi Shimazu, Jim Blanchard, Larry Porter, and Jim Jimielita. She started to perform as a professional jazz vocalist in 1984. 

She has performed extensively in Japan and in many restaurants and clubs in New York such as JRG Fashion Café, Cucina Stagionale, Mannahatta, Kavehaz, Carpo’s Café, La Cave, Tomi Jazz, Spo-Dee-O-Dees, Shutters, Nirvana, Cho Cho San, Silvana, etc. She also performed in the “Discoveries Concert” and the “Hiroko Kanna Aquarius Concert” at the Jazz Center of N.Y., “International Night “at the International Center and a solo concert at Sweetwaters. She has been accompanied by jazz giants such as Houston Person, Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Harold Mabern, Norman Simmons, Frank Owens, Richard Wyands, Earl May and Lyle Atkinson.

In 2016, she recorded "All About Love", an album of Jazz and Bossa Nova Standards with David Hazeltine (P), Hello Alves (P), Santi Debriano (B), Tommy Campbell (Ds), Jeremy Pelt (Tp), Craig Handy (T. Sax) and Russ Morrow (Gt) .