Toshiko Akiyoshi (秋吉 敏子 or 穐吉 敏子 Akiyoshi Toshiko, born 12 December 1929) is a Japanese jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader.

She has received fourteen Grammy Award nominations and was the first woman to win Best Arranger and Composer awards in Down Beatmagazine’s annual Readers’ Poll. In 1984, she was the subject of the documentary Jazz Is My Native Language. In 1996, she published her autobiography, Life with Jazz, and in 2007 she was named an NEA Jazz Master by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts.

Akiyoshi was born in Liaoyang, Manchuria to Japanese emigrants. She was the youngest of four sisters. In 1945, after World War II, Akiyoshi’s family lost their home and returned to Japan, settling in Beppu. A local record collector introduced her to jazz by playing a record of Teddy Wilsonplaying “Sweet Lorraine“. She immediately loved the sound and began to study jazz. In 1952, during a tour of Japan, pianist Oscar Petersondiscovered her playing in a club on the Ginza. Peterson was impressed and convinced record producer Norman Granz to record her. In 1953, under Granz’s direction, she recorded her first album with Peterson’s rhythm section: Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on double bass, and J. C. Heard on drums. The album was released with the title Toshiko’s Piano in the U.S. and Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi in Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mosYwYB-8E