Chieko Yano's CD is available atCDbaby.com. Please visit their site for more information. You can also listen to all tracks at www.chiekoyano.com.

Chieko Yano is an intriguing and talented musician who is making a name for herself throughout the Midwest and beyond. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Yano began playing classical piano at the age of three. She developed her own musical vocabulary through the experience of various other instruments, including saxophone, voice, guitar, and bass. She received formal training from jazz pianist, Frank Caruso, and concert pianist, Michael Yanovitsky.

After working for several years as a vocalist, pianist, and arranger in Tokyo, Yano moved to Chicago in 1998. She soon appeared on the famed Chicago jazz scene as a pianist. She performed at such reputable venues as Pops for Champagne, Isaac Hayes Center, Hot House, Fitzgerald's, Smoke Daddy, Velvet Lounge, and M Lounge. She also began a long-running residency at Cafe Shino's Piano Bar .

Yano's experience at these venues gave her the opportunity to perform with a number of respected musicians. She shared the stage with Winton Marsalis, Harold Jones, and Carl Allen. She also performed with Tom Garling, a trombone player whom she would eventually marry.

Following her marriage to Garling, Yano settled in the United States. She started to reconsider her roots and origins. This led to a desire to incorporate Asian-influenced sounds into her brand of jazz. It was also at this time that Yano began focusing on her singing and vocal compositions.

Yano's CD, Blue Sonata(2007) includes jazz standards, originals, and Japanese folk songs. She is fortunate to have some of the best musicians in Chicago featured on the album. Some of these include Garling, sax player Geof Bradfield, bassist Patt Willians, bassist Matt Young and drummer Noritaka Tanaka. The self-produced CD has different approaches to the genre of jazz: it combines a taste of Asian flavor with vocal overdubbing. It also features classical sonata forms,  odd meter changes, and interesting key changes. It is both Yano's wide vocal range and strong musical background which allow these different elements to blend so well. As further proof of her musical talents, Yano also plays the classical guitar on her new CD.

Currently, Yano is performing in Chicago and the surrounding region. She sings in both Japanese and English. This flexibility is now an essential element to her sound. Live, Yano emphasizes improvisation and her piano playing. She considers herself a pianist who happens to sing, rather than a vocalist who plays the piano. Her performance has been known to sway from sensitive and evocative one minute, to feisty, playful, and ferocious the next. Yano's performance can be seen regularly at Cafe Shino (211E.Ontario, Chicago), Cafe la Cave Steak House(Des Plaines), the Dragonfly Mandarin Restaurant (832 W. Randolph St., Chicago), and M Lounge (1520 S. Wabash, Chicago).