Izumi Okamura

Takako Okamura (岡村孝子, Okamura Takako, born January 29, 1962) is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She had her debut in 1982 as part of the folk duo Aming (あみん, amin) with the single Matsu-wa that became a success in Japan. The duo disbanded in 1984, and Okamura started a successful solo career in 1985. By 2006, she had released 15 original albums and 30 singles. She put her solo career on hold and reformed the duo Aming in 2007 for its 25th anniversary. On April 21, 2019, it was announced that Okamura was diagnosed with acute leukemia.

This disc contains 11 piano pieces by Toru Takemitsu performed by Izumi Tateno. It was originally released in 1996 on Finlandia, but now appears in reissue in Warner Classics' economy line Apex. Like all of Takemitsu's oeuvre, his piano works (which altogether make up only a single CD) are meditative, intensely focused, and undramatic.

In 1957, Izumi "Mimi" Kobayashi was born and raised in the seaside city of Funabashi located in Chiba, Japan. Before Izumi launched her musical career she was mostly known as a prodigious piano player. While attending the Tokyo College of Music, Izumi formed a group called Asoca and won Yamaha’s prestigious Grand Prix songwriting contest in 1977, landing on a record contract in doing so. Going under the name Mimie-Chan Super Band, CBS Sony released her first EP (My Summer Samba). Just months later, Izumi would rebrand her group as the Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band and release two wicked funk-influenced albums that showed Izumi’s own interest in latin and soul music…