Documentary | DVD, VHS
Producer/Director: Renee Cho
Ethnicity: Japanese
Subjects: Art & Performance, Personal Stories, Women
This is the heroic story of Toshiko Akiyoshi – artist, wife, and mother – and her ascent into the American jazz world. Playing with such greats as Charles Mingus, who helped launch her career in the 1960s, and Duke Ellington, Akiyoshi later created the highly acclaimed Akiyoshi/Tabackin Big Band. She was the first woman to win Down Beat Magazine’s best arranger and composer awards.