Japanese singer Toki Asako combines jazz with sonic elements from her homeland, serving up soulful renditions of standards and pop songs. The daughter of saxophonist Hidefumi Toki, Asako grew up with music, evident by her ease of traversing genres to develop her own distinct identity.
As lead vocalist of the pop group Cymbals in the late 90s and early 00’s, Toki recorded several albums. They eventually disbanded but remained active in music, with Okii Reiji continuing to work with Toki as a producer. Both the band and Asako were influenced by British pop, leading her to cover the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.”
Standards (Mini Album) was released in 2004 and was produced by her father. More solo outings followed, including a full-length Standards the following year. Her live performance at NYC’s famed Village Vanguard was also released in 2005. Since then she has continued to put out music regularly, including Japanese pop covers and much more. Her latest is Safari, released earlier this year.
Mellow Yellow