Music Recording & Archiving
Omomuki assists musicians in creating and releasing jazz music. Examples include rehearsal and recording studio time, musician fees, mixing and mastering, album artwork, distribution strategy, performances, video, and sheet music.
2024 Programs and Recipients
Jill McCarron Gin
The second album for New York City-based jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Jill McCarron. To be released in February 2024 on Omomuki's Jazz Bird Records label.
2023 Programs and Recipients
Isaiah J. Thompson A Guaraldi Holiday
Acclaimed pianist and composer Isaiah J. Thompson celebrates this holiday season with A Guaraldi Holiday, his tribute to the music of Vince Guaraldi. Filled with adventurous and spirited full band performances, the album is led by Thompson’s crisp piano and warmed by a contemporary creative fire – yet harkens back to the iconic Charlie Brown holiday TV specials of mid-century America.
The Essential Liz Story
In recognition of Liz's extraordinary contribution to solo piano music and to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of her first album Solid Colors, Sony Music Entertainment in collaboration with Jazz Bird Records and The Omomuki Foundation released The Essential Liz Story — a thirty-song collection curated by the artist to represent her most important and beloved original compositions.
Liz Story Songs of Christmas
Produced by Omomuki and released by Sony Music, Liz Story Songs of Christmas presents all of Liz's holiday music in a single collection, 29 tracks in all. It includes all 14 tracks from Liz's beloved holiday album The Gift as well as 15 remastered holiday songs that appeared on Windham Hill collections over the years. This is the first time that all of Liz's holiday music is available in one place, by streaming and digital download.
Liz Story Live at Yavapai
On August 9th, 2022, celebrated composer and solo pianist Liz Story gave a full-length concert at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center in Prescott, Arizona. It was her first full-length, solo piano performance in over a decade, and her first and only live performance available on compact disc.
2022 Programs and Recipients
Jill McCarron Jazz Motif
Jill McCarron is a New York City-based jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Omomuki's Jazz Bord Records label produced her 2022 album Jazz Motif (Remastered), of which “All About Jazz” wrote: “[Jazz Motif] gets off to a flying start with Will Anderson’s irrepressible alto saxophone setting the pace on a fiery rendition of ‘All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm’ and his radiant flute showcased on John Lewis’ groovy ‘Concorde.’ The trio is superb on the standard ‘My Ideal’ and half a dozen jazz originals, closing with an explosive medley of Bud Powell’s ‘Glass Enclosure’ and ‘Tempus Fugit.’ . . . McCarron’s trio is impressive on its own terms, and Jazz Motif is a bright and pleasing session from start to finish.”
Naama Gheber If I Knew Then
Naama is an Israeli-born, New York-based jazz vocalist inspired by the emotionally direct compositions of Rodgers and Hart, Fields and Hugh, Cole Porter and other great composers and lyricist of the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Gheber spent three years studying jazz and classical voice at The Center for Jazz Studies in Tel Aviv. In 2015 Naama attended the prestigious jazz program at The New School For Performing Arts. Throughout her time in NYC, Gheber has shared the stage with Steve Nelson, Dave Kikoski, Bruce Barth, Michael Kanan, David Wong, Ray Gallon, Carlos Abadie, Neal Miner and appears regularly in some of NYC’s major jazz venues- Birdland , Smalls, Mezzrow ( weekly residency), The Django and others. Omomuki supplemented production costs associated with her album If I Knew Then, due in spring 2022.
Liz Story Sheet Music Archive
Liz Story is an American solo pianist and composer. Between 1983 and 2005, Liz released ten full-length albums — seven of original solo piano compositions, two of jazz standards, and a holiday album — for Windham Hill and RCA Novus. Omomuki is funding and overseeing the creation of a publicly available digital music archive, including her entire catalog of sheet music. In 2022 we accomplished our goal of making Liz’s entire sheet music catalog available digitally and at a reasonable price on www.LizStory.com -- 84 songs in all. This includes all of Liz’s past sheet music volumes (which were out-of-print, hard to find, and being sold at exorbitant prices). Additionally, we created 23 new transcriptions, certified by Liz for fidelity to the original recordings.
2021 Programs and Recipients
Liz Story
Liz Story is an American solo pianist and composer. Between 1983 and 2005, Liz released ten full-length albums — seven of original solo piano compositions, two of jazz standards, and a holiday album — for Windham Hill and RCA Novus. Omomuki is funding and overseeing the creation of a publicly available digital music archive, including her entire catalog of sheet music. This phase established the digital archive at www.lizstory.com and published 63 pieces of sheet music.
Davis Whitfield / Scatter the Atoms
Davis Whitfield is a pianist and composer who performs regularly at New York’s jazz clubs and has toured the United States, France, and Spain. In 2008, while still in high school, he was appointed Assistant Director for the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra. He graduated from Berklee College of Music on a Presidential Scholarship. The Omomuki grant funds the mixing, mastering, and printing of his debut album of original works of music, Emancipation Suite by his band Scatter the Atoms.
Jill McCarron
Jill McCarron is a New York City-based jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. The Omomuki Music Recording and Archiving Program assisted Jill in producing her album Jazz Motif, due out in 2022.
2020 Programs and Recipients
Davis Whitfield
Davis Whitfield is a pianist and composer who performs regularly at New York’s jazz clubs and has toured the United States, France, and Spain. In 2008, while still in high school, he was appointed Assistant Director for the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra. He graduated from Berklee College of Music on a Presidential Scholarship. The Omomuki grant funds the recording of his debut album of original works of music, influenced by Coltrane, Monk, Ravel, and Tyner.
Liz Story
Liz Story is an American pianist and composer. Between 1983 and 2005, Liz released ten full-length albums — seven of original solo piano compositions, two of jazz standards, and a holiday album — for Windham Hill and RCA Novus. Omomuki funded and created publicly available digital sheet music for her 1983 debut album, Solid Colors.
2019 Programs and Recipients
Living the Classical Life
Living the Classical Life is a US-based non-profit that produces an ongoing series of filmed interviews and intimate performances. Hosted by Zsolt Bognár, Living the Classical Life explores the world of classical music through conversations with its practitioners. The Omomuki grant contributed to the filming of interviews with Russian concert pianist Ilya Itin, American cellist Joshua Roman, American actress and singer Melissa Errico, and Slovak Violinist Filip Pogady.
2018 Programs and Recipients
Gabriel Lubell
Gabriel Lubell is a composer and scholar whose music has been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe by numerous soloists and ensembles, including the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Intercontinental Ensemble, Tesla Quartet, and Barkada Quartet. Lubell earned a Doctorate in Music Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has held teaching positions at Knox College, Indiana University, and Macalester College, and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Kenyon College. The Omomuki grant funds the professional studio recording of his original composition The Curious Journey of the Ryō-un Maru, inspired by events surrounding the 2011 Japan tsunami.
Harold O’Neal
Harold O’Neal is a Tanzanian-American pianist and composer “whose style has been pegged by critics as straddling the line between jazz and classical music.” His work has been featured in the New York Times, Fortune Magazine, on NPR’s All Things Considered and Fresh Air, and on Public Radio International. The Omomuki grant funded in part the production and release of his second album of piano solos, Piano Cinema.
Living the Classical Life
Living the Classical Life is a US-based non-profit that produces an ongoing series of filmed interviews and intimate performances. Hosted by Zsolt Bognár, Living the Classical Life explores the world of classical music through conversations with its practitioners. The Omomuki grant contributed to the filming of interviews with French concert pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and American soprano Nadine Sierra.
2017 Programs and Recipients
Shawn Head & Eric Charnofsky
Shawn Head is shakuhachi flutist and composer whose goal is to popularize the shakuhachi in both traditional Japanese and modern Western forms. He is the youngest non-Japanese shakuhachi flutist to receive a Shihan (Master’s Certification). He earned his undergraduate degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has studied with shakuhachi masters including Michael Chikuzen Gould and Kaoru Kakizakai. His compositions, which combine Japanese traditional music with a distinct western compositional style, have been commissioned by organizations including Performers and Artist for Nuclear Disarmament to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima nuclear bombings.
Eric Charnofsky is a pianist and composer who holds degrees from California State University and The Juilliard School. He currently teaches keyboard ensemble at Case Western Reserve University. Mr. Charnofsky served on the faculty in the pre-college division of the Juilliard School, and was an Associate Faculty member for eight summers at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. The Omomuki grant will commission Mr. Charnofsky to compose, and Mr. Head to record and perform, an original work for shakuhachi flute.
Harold O’Neal
Harold O’Neal is a Tanzanian-American pianist and composer “whose style has been pegged by critics as straddling the line between jazz and classical music.” His 2011 album Marvelous Fantasy is a collection of original solo piano compositions influenced by the works of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy and an homage to music of silent films. His work has been featured in the New York Times, on NPR’s All Things Considered and Fresh Air, and on PRI. The Omomuki grant funded a private concert in advance of the release of his most recent album of original piano compositions, Piano Cinema.
Living the Classical Life
Living the Classical Life is a US-based non-profit that produces an ongoing series of filmed interviews and intimate performances. Hosted by Zsolt Bognár, Living the Classical Life explores the world of classical music through conversations with its practitioners. The Omomuki grant contributed to the filming of interviews and performances with pianist Seymour Bernstein, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, composer John Corigliano, and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.
2016 Programs and Recipients
Lisa Downing
Lisa Downing is a two-time Emmy Award-nominated composer, pianist, and recording artist. She has released five albums of original piano composition, and has performed for audiences in the U.S., Spain, Argentina, and Germany. Her most recent release is Wisdom of My Shadow, which contains the track “Torii Gates,” in tribute to the people Hachinohe whose sacred Shinto shrine gates were lost in the 2011 tsunami, recovered two years later on the Oregon coast, and returned to Japan and re-erected in their original place in Okuki Bay in 2016. The Omomuki grant funded in part the publication of her CD, and its distribution to those involved with the return of the Torii to Japan and to those in Okuki Bay affected by the 2011 tsunami.
Living the Classical Life
Living the Classical Life is a US-based non-profit that produces an ongoing series of filmed interviews and intimate performances. Hosted by Zsolt Bognár, Living the Classical Life explores the world of classical music through conversations with its practitioners. The Omomuki grant funded the filming of interviews with pianists Jeremy Denk and Caroline Oltmanns, and opera singer Deborah Voigt.