Pianist Yuko Mabuchi is bringing her trio to the Selby Ave Jazz Fest for a performance on Saturday, September 13. Mabuchi, who hails from Japan but is based in L.A., was nice enough to connect with Sean McPherson and talk about her trio, her repertoire and her love of improvisation.
This interview originally aired on The Afternoon Cruise on 09/09/25
READ THE COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
It’s the afternoon cruise, and I’m chatting with Yuko Mabuchi. Yuko is performing at the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest on Saturday, September 13, alongside Corey, Henry, HEYARLO and others. Mabuchi is a rising star in the world of music, originally hailing from Japan and now based in Los Angeles, Yuko, arigato gozimasu, and thank you for taking the time to join us today.
Yuko Mabuchi
Arigato gozaimasu, thank you very much for having me today.
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
Now you go, I watched the video of your recording sessions, and it’s a beautiful, big ensemble, strings, percussion and more. And now, when you come into St Paul, you’re gonna be playing with the trio. What changes for your sound when you’re a trio setting, like you’re gonna be doing at the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest?
Yuko Mabuchi
The trio is what it is. And then the trio is actually my favorite style of performing, because the three of us have to create in the moment everything. When you add strings, you are adding lush sounds and dynamics, and you are also introducing structure and arrangement that may limit our improvisation. This weekend, we will perform certain tunes using backing tracks from the actual recordings. We want the audience to feel as much of the production as possible, because the dynamics and the flavors are very important to the presentation, I hope to somebody, someday we will perform with a live symphony, but for now, we will walk with some tracks.
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
Now you go, you are very capable in a number of genres, and you’ve learned them at different stages in your life, and as you get comfortable in different genres, are there things that you’ve had to unlearn from your training to get the right sound and feel in different performance settings?
Yuko Mabuchi
There’s nothing that I had to do unlearn that I can think of everything I learned as a classical student, I’ve been able to use as a jazz artist. However, jazz is more free, and I can play my own dynamics and changes the way I hear them, not the way they are written on the classical music score. To me, improvising is completely different from classical performance. So yeah, that’s the thing that drew me to into jazz.
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
I’m chatting with Yuko Mabuchi, a very gifted piano player, originally from Japan, now based in Los Angeles and performing in St Paul on Saturday, September 13, at the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest alongside artists like Corey Henry and hey Arlo. And it’s an honor be talking to Yuko Mabuchi. Now, Yuko, you have a wide repertoire available. We’ve actually started playing a couple tunes from your album Quantum. And I was just wondering, how do you pick your repertoire for a particular show or particular recording session?
Yuko Mabuchi
There are many popular tunes that I love and I want to play, and I also love to write my own songs. I choose songs that we enjoy playing and that the audience responds to. I always try to mix my repertoire to connect with a broad audience. I choose some swing, some Latin some group. I will sing a couple tunes on each set. I want to be sure that everybody shares something that they can connect with us.
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
Yuko, one tune I’ve been playing here on jazz 88 of yours is Batucada. Can you tell me a little bit about that tune and the process of releasing that tune?
Yuko Mabuchi
Batucada. This tune is my imagination of Marcos Valle, Brazilian composition, and then takes this Samba classic into all my take musical style and jazz in France into this beautiful piece.
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
That is so cool, and we have a huge fan of that Brazilian composer on our staff. Christian will be elated to know that that’s where that tune originates. It’s been an honor to talk to Yuko Mabuchi. I just have one more question for you, and cannot wait to see your show on Saturday night. What modern performers do you admire and study in the world of jazz?
Yuko Mabuchi
There are so many great performers in so many different genres that I like. It’s hard for me to single out a few. But before I become a student of jazz, I listened to many American artists like Erica, Badu, jarne, TLC, like jazz, hip hop and R, B Musik. As I got into jazz, I was greatly influenced by HERBIE, Hancock, Monty, Alexander. There are so many young jazz artists on the scene today, especially pianists, and I’m just glad to be part of it.
Sean McPherson (Jazz88)
Yuko Mabuchi, Arigato, gozaimasu for joining jazz 88 and another arigato for arriving and playing in St Paul on Saturday for the Selby Ave Avenue Jazz Fest. Thank you to your manager, Billy for facilitating this interview, and thank you for your generous time and for your wonderful answers. Cannot wait to see you on Saturday night.
Yuko Mabuchi
I am so excited to be performing at the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest. I’ll be bringing my trio and some special arrangement that I think you are going to love. I’d love for you to come by and share the music with us. It’s going to be really fun, and I Can’t wait to see you there.
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